WV Humanities Council issues statement regarding termination of NEH funding

Statement from the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Humanities Council:

The Board of Directors of the West Virginia Humanities Council [the Council], a  nonpartisan nonprofit organization, was recently notified by the federal Department of  Government Efficiency (DOGE), that support to our Council from the National  Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) was being terminated.  

This abrupt termination of long-established and congressionally appropriated NEH  funding support for the Council, which serves as the NEH’s official affiliate in and for  the Mountain State, if sustained, will cause the closure of all Council activities within  West Virginia. 

The financial support received from NEH represents 50% of the Council’s annual  budget. That funding is matched dollar-for-dollar by donations from West Virginians  which together provide the funds that enable the Council to host events, provide  programs, and support projects that preserve our state’s history and cultural heritage,  and promote public discussions about issues that matter to West Virginians.  

These funds enable the Council to create sustainable partnerships between the public  and private sectors which contribute well over a million dollars every year to our state’s  cultural economy, in the form of the grants and programs we provide to West Virginia  cultural organizations, historical societies, schools, community centers, municipalities,  and other entities. 

As the Council’s Board of Directors, we come from all areas of West Virginia, from  communities of every size. We have seen firsthand, in our hometowns and in every  county, the profound impact of the Council’s work. Rescinding of congressionally  appropriated funding for the NEH means that our capacity to serve West Virginians will  disappear, as will our significant contribution to our state’s rapidly growing cultural  economy. 

The impact will be felt everywhere, nowhere more directly than in the rural areas of  our state. Our work is accomplished through the work that West Virginians do  themselves. These dollars are locally directed; the projects they support are locally  designed and locally delivered. Our work is a model of federal funding done  responsibly and cost-effectively, by returning tax dollars to the people of West Virginia  in support of programs they themselves support, create, and execute in their home  communities.

West Virginians have historically demonstrated a culture of working past our  differences to achieve ends that benefit us all. We call on our congressional  representatives to defend and ensure the delivery of NEH funding appropriated in  support of the West Virginia Humanities Council—funding that has, for 50 years,  worked to serve all West Virginians.