The Villagers have announced their 2020 grant recipients. Eight organizations will share more than $45,000. Grants are allocated for historic restoration and preservation projects, including those to educate, document, and perpetuate the heritage of Miami-Dade County.
Grantees for 2020 are Actor’s Playhouse, Coco Plum Woman’s Club, Curtiss Mansion, Dade Heritage Trust, Montgomery Botanical Center, Tropical Audubon Society, Woman’s Club of Coconut Grove, and Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.
Grant recipients must be not-for-profit organizations with projects that involve either historic or architecturally significant structures or sites within Dade County. Susan Medina chaired the Grants/Projects Committee to review applications and select the recipients, along with committee members Jeanne Bunten, Marlin Ebbert, Gayle Duncan, Helen Duncan, Alexis Ehrenhaft, Sweet Pea Ellman, Dolly MacIntyre, Barbara Moller, Carolyn Reyes, Martha Voytek, and Lilian Walby.
“This group continues to amaze me, explained Medina. “They are committed to organizing spectacular House and Garden Tours every year and then meticulous about which historic preservation projects will receive Villager funds for their preservation efforts. The need is always greater than our funds, but we do our best to support everyone.”
For more details about projects funded, fundraising events, membership opportunities and the full scope of The Villagers legacy, visit www.thevillagersinc.org.
About the Villagers: The Villagers Inc. is Miami-Dade County’s oldest historic preservation organization, founded in 1966. The not-for-profit all-volunteer group originally formed to save the Douglas Entrance has grown to identify and assist almost 80 other endangered sites with 170 grants. Members regularly advocate for local preservation and have been leaders working with sites for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, providing brainpower, volunteer service, and funding. Scholarships are also granted annually to students studying historic preservation at Florida universities, and graduating seniors from Miami’s Design and Architecture High School.
Through educating, advocating, fundraising, restoration, and documentation The Villagers continue a 54-year tradition of service for the preservation of local historic sites.
