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November 2009 Artwork by George Yano, courtesy of Manzanar NHS A Report on Fiscal Year 2009 Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program Awards The National Park Service (NPS) is pleased to report on the Fiscal Year 2009 grant awards for the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. In 2009, the first year of the grant program, the NPS awarded 19 grants totaling $970,000 to help preserve and interpret the historic confinement sites where more than 120,000 japanese Americans were confined during World War II. The grants were awarded through a competitive process, providing $2 in federal money for every $1 in non-federal funds and/or "in-kind" contributions raised by groups and individuals working to preserve the sites and their histories. The grants are funding a wide variety of projects, ranging from the interpretation of the little known internment experience in Hawai'i to the preservation of the stockade and jail at the Tule Lake Segregation Center in California. The awards range from $5,000 for a commemorative plaque and ceremony at the Arboga Assembly Center in Marysville, California, to $292,253 for the new Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County, Wyoming. Although the grants support preservation and interpretation efforts in 12 states, many of the projects are national in scope, including an oral history project to collect and digitize the "stories less told" of Japanese Americans who were held against their will at the confinement sites. Background The broad range of projects reflect the stakeholders' hopes and expectations for the grant program, to educate the public and leave a legacy for future generations through the preservation of both the physical confinement sites and the stories of Japanese Americans' experiences during World War II. Each of the selected projects is highlighted in the subsequent pages of this newsletter. On December 21, 2006, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 109-441, which authorized the NPS to create a program to encourage and support the preservation and interpretation of historic confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The Act also directed . the NPS to consult with a variety of governmental, I educational, and private nonprofit organizations ! iIl the development of a grant program to achieve I the purposes of the Act. On June 11, 2007, the , House Committee on Appropriations directed i the NPS to provide a report that described how : the agency would implement the grant program (H. Rpt. 110-187). Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program (Public Law 109-441, 16 USC 461) in 2006 to preserve and interpret U.S. confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. The law authorized up to $38 million for the life of the grant program to identify, research, evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire historic confinement sites in order that present and future generations may learn and gain inspiration from these sites and to demonstrate the Nation's commitment to equal justice under the law. In preparation for a congressional appropriation and in response to the directive from the House Committee on Appropriations, the NPS engaged the public to gain valuable input to assist in the development of this grant program. The NPS consulted with state, local, and tribal governments, other public entities, educational institutions, and private nonprofit organizations, including those involved in the preservation of historic confinement sites. During this process, the NPS engaged more than 1,000 individuals representing more than 40 organizations, governmental entities, and academic institutions. They shared their hopes and expectations and helped shape the evaluation criteria and guidelines for the grant program. Congress appropriated $1 million for the 2009 grant program. Of that amount, $40,000 was allotted for NPS administation of the program. However, NPS only needed $30,000 (amounting to 3% overhead), leaving $970,000 for grants awards. On May 21, 2008, this information was presented by the Department of the Interior, on behalf of the NPS, to the House Committee on Appropriations in the Report to Congress Pursuant to Public Law 109-441: Preservation oJIapanese American World War II Confinement Sites. This report outlined the legislative requirements, project categories, evaluation criteria, and program administration guidelines for the grant program.