The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced $3 million in grant funding to protect and preserve sites representing African American history.

With more than $80 million in funding, the Action Fund is the largest U.S. resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places.

Under Project Planning is the Maryfield Cemetery, with the grantee: Daufuskie Island Gullah Heritage Society | Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. 

Only seven families are left on Daufuskie Island, a sea island in South Carolina within the Gullah Geechee corridor. Gullah history on the island faces threats of development, gentrification pressures, and cultural loss and little is currently known about Maryfield Cemetery.

A community-based initiative using research combined with oral histories will help assess and document the cemetery, create a restoration and maintenance plan, and address issues surrounding descendant access. 

"The cultural landscapes and historic buildings featured in this year’s list showcase the breadth and depth of African American life, history, and architecture across generations,” said Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president of the, National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“At the National Trust, we aim to broaden the public's understanding of the Black experience in America, while also underscoring the very urgent need to identify and protect these sites for the benefit of the communities they have long served. These often-overlooked places hold aspects of history that must be protected — and used to draw inspiration and wisdom for the benefit of all Americans.”

Since its inception in 2017, the Action Fund has supported 160 places through its National Grant Program for a total investment of $12.4 million.

This year’s list further demonstrates the beauty and complexity of African American life, including sites like Detroit’s Blue Bird Inn, Home of Mamie Till Mobley and Emmett Till, and the Home and Studio of artist Faith Ringgold.

The continuous expansion of the Action Fund’s National Grant Program is a result of ongoing investments from the Mellon Foundation, The JPB Foundation, Lilly Endowment, and others.

Significant gifts from philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett and the Ford Foundation have also contributed to the preservation impact and success of the Action Fund. 

Action Fund grants support preservation efforts across four categories:

Building Capital: Supporting the restoration and rehabilitation of cultural assets important to Black history.

Increasing Organizational Capacity: Providing leadership staff positions within nonprofits stewarding Black heritage sites.

Project Planning and Development: Funding planning activities tied to the development of preservation plans, feasibility studies, and fundraising.

Programming and Education: Advancing storytelling through public education and creative interpretation.

Learn more about the Action Fund and the 2022 recipients at www.savingplaces.org/actionfund.  

Eric Bedingfield, governmental affairs director at Greenville Technical College, has been appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster as chairman of the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board, the group charged with disbursement decisions for South Carolina Opioid Settlement Funds from the 2022 National Opioids Settlement and future settlements. 

More than $360 million is coming to South Carolina over the next 18 years. Ninety-two percent of these funds will be used to directly address the opioid crisis. 

The South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board will manage and disperse the settlement funds.

All board members are academic, medical, licensed health, or other professionals with significant experience in opioid prevention, treatment, or intervention.

In addition to Bedingfield, members include Aditi S. Bussells, Ph.D., Mayes DuBose, MD, Martine Helou, Gary Mixon, Lisa Montgomery, Toby Chappell, The Honorable H. Bruce Williams, and Steve Donaldson.

Bedingfield, who spent four years as a member of Greenville County Council, eight years as the deputy chief of staff, senior advisor and campaign manager for then Congressman Mick Mulvaney, and 11 years as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, has been involved in opioid prevention efforts since 2016, when he lost his oldest son to the crisis. 

At Greenville Technical College, where he has worked since 2018, Bedingfield was the driving force behind creation of a Collegiate Recovery Program, the only program of its kind at a two-year institution in the state.

Countybank’s mortgage department reached a significant milestone earlier this year as it surpassed the $3  billion mark in overall loan volume closed since its formation, comprised of more than 15,000 residential mortgage loan transactions. 

The mortgage team includes JD Nelson III, senior vice president and mortgage division manager of the program.

Alongside former First Palmetto Mortgage partner Chris Roberts, Nelson served as a principal partner of First Palmetto Mortgage, which merged with Countybank in 2010.

Nelson has more than 30 years of mortgage lending experience in  the real estate field. 

In December 2020, the mortgage industry experienced record low interest rates in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the team set a record with $525 million in residential mortgage loans closed in 2021.  

Founded in 1933, Countybank is a community-oriented financial services provider with  locations across Upstate South Carolina in the Greenwood, Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, and Anderson communities.