Certified Local Government Grants

Since 1966, when Congress established a preservation program for the United States, the national historic preservation program has operated as a decentralized partnership between the Federal government and the States. In the simplest of terms, the Federal government established a program of identification, evaluation and protection of historic properties and prehistoric sites.  Federal, State, Tribal and Local governments each have clearly defined and mutually beneficial roles in the national historic preservation partnership. 

The National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 USC 470 et seq.) contains the legal basis of the new federal-state-local preservation partnership.  The role of “Certified Local Governments”(CLGs) in the partnership involves at a minimum, (1) responsibility for review and approval of nominations of properties to the National Register of Historic Places, and (2) eligibility to apply to the State Historic Preservation Officer (in Maryland, the Director of the Maryland Historical Trust) for matching funds earmarked for “Certified Local Governments.” In order to become certified, a local government must meet several requirements, chief of which is to have enacted a historic preservation ordinance and appointed a historic district (or preservation) commission with at least two members who meet National Park Service professional qualification standards.

One of the benefits of certification is a local government’s eligibility to compete annually for CLG subgrant funds. Every year, the State of Maryland makes at least 10% of its annual apportionment of the Historic Preservation Fund available to Certified Local Governments meeting minimum requirements. 

Please contact Cory Kegerise, Administrator of Local Preservation Programs at (410) 514-7635 or ckegerise@mdp.state.md.us for more information.

Applicant Eligibility

All CLGs within the State of Maryland are eligible to compete for CLG subgrant funds if they have continued to comply with the conditions of their Certification Agreement and State performance standards, including submission of CLG Annual Reports.

Local governments receiving CLG subgrant funding become subgrantees of the State.  All subgrantees must be provided with, or have access to, appropriate technical and financial management assistance in order to meet and maintain, for the period of the subgrant award, standards outlined in a grant contract drafted after the announcement of the awarding of funds and signed by the local jurisdiction.