New federal education funding legislation contains good news for institutions, like the Freedom Center, that provide educational and cultural programming on Underground Railroad history and related topics.

The legislation, H.R. 4137, the “Higher Education Opportunity Act,” was passed by Congress and signed into law this week by President Bush. It covers a huge array of federal education programs, including renewed funding of up to $3,000,000 annually (for the next five years) under the National Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program first enacted in 1998. Funding will be awarded annually to applying institutions through a competitive grant process.

Importantly, the new law expands both what can be funded and the potential audiences for programs:

• For the first time, federal dollars can be used to underwrite educational programs that focus on lessons derived from the history of the Underground Railroad. In other words, programming that is relevant to modern-day issues, albeit those that link programmatically to Underground Railroad themes, could be eligible for support through the new legislation.

• Funding opportunities have been expanded to cover education programs for students from kindergarten through college, as well as the general public. Previously, Underground Railroad funding was largely limited to college programs.

As in prior years, organizations seeking funding must demonstrate that they have matching commitments of private or non-federal underwriting equal to four times as much as the receive from the government. Thus, for an organization to obtain a $1,000,000 grant under the new legislation, it must show that it has $4,000,000 in private funding already committed.