Help Support The Funding Effort for Network to Freedom Program

The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Funding Reauthorization Act of 2007, introduced last year by Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), has been packaged in a large omnibus of non-controversial public lands bills known as S. 2739.

S. 2739 will likely come up for a cloture vote the first or second week in April 2008.

Please contact your senator and ask them to support Indiana's heritage and the Network to Freedom program (NTF) by voting "yes" on S. 2739.

Background:

The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act was signed into law in July 1998 (Public Law 105-203) and established the Network to Freedom program (NTF) to increase public knowledge and awareness of the Underground Railroad. The NTF matches Park Service resources and knowledge with local expertise thus enabling communities, scholars, and national park units all across the United States to more capably tell their part of the Underground Railroad story. The NTF is the only national program dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of Underground Railroad history.

A Chronic Lack of Funding Threatens the Network's Future: With annual operations funding authorized at $500,000 a year, the NTF has suffered from inadequate funding since its inception. Flat line budgets and program cuts have now reduced the actual budget of the NTF to $479,000. According to recent Park Service financial projections, the NTF budget will be reduced by 72 percent by the year 2011, thus effectively terminating the program.

A Reasonable Solution is Within Our Grasp: S. 1709 The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Funding Reauthorization Act of 2007 was introduced by Senator Joseph Biden (DE-D) in July of 2007. The bill calls for raising the authorized funding limit for the Network to Freedom program from $500,000 to $2.5 million. This modest but much needed increase would make it possible for Congress to fund the NTF program at a more realistic level erasing the program's operating deficit and providing basic programmatic services. A companion bill, H.R. 1239 introduced by Representatives Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Michael Castle (R-DE), passed the House earlier this year.

The list of co-sponsors for S. 1709 includes Senators Alexander (TN), Bayh (IN), Cardin (MD), Carper (DE), Clinton (NY), Cochran (MS), Kennedy (MA), Kerry (MA), Levin (MI), Nelson (FL), Obama (IL), and Specter (PA).

A Successful Program with 300 Partners Nationwide: The NTF has a staff of six charged with fulfilling the program's Congressional mandate of establishing partnerships and growing the Network. Regional coordinators invite contacts to submit applications for Network membership. Twice a year NTF staff review membership applications. Those that meet the rigorous NTF criteria are accepted into the program, and are then eligible to apply for NTF grants. The grants, when available, are capped at $25,000 and must be matched dollar for dollar by non-federal funding.

The NTF has members (institutions, programs, and facilities) in 28 states and the District of Columbia, and over 300 programs, sites, and/or facilities listed in the network.

How You Can Help the Park Service Protect and Preserve Our History:

Please take a moment to contact your senator. If they're already a co-sponsor of S. 1709, thank them for their support and ask them to help push for quick passage of S. 2739, the public lands omnibus bill introduced by Senator Bingaman.

If they're not yet a cosponsor, ask for their support as S. 1709 works its way through the Senate. Timing is crucial and your letters, e-mails, or phone calls will count the most if placed before April 4, 2008.

For additional details please contact Alan Spears at (202) 454-3384, or by e-mail at aspears@npca.org. Or visit www.npca.org

Indiana Freedom Trails is a member of:

Resistance To Slavery... The Underground Railroad is associated with a nineteenth-century movement of enslaved African-Americans seeking freedom from bondage and the assistance they received on their journey. The network that developed to aid the freedom seekers brought together people of all races, ordinary and extraordinary united in a common cause.

Established in 1998, Indiana Freedom Trails, Inc. is seeking information about Underground Railroad History in Indiana. Oral histories, family bibles, letters, diaries and other documents are important to the story of Indiana's Underground Railroad heritage. We invite you to share your stories with us, and participate in our efforts to identify, to preserve, and to honor the places and individuals that were dedicated to the humanity and equality for all people.

There are many ways you can become involved--please contact your regional Indiana Freedom Trails representative.

Mission Statement: Indiana Freedom Trails is a cohesive, diverse group working to locate, to identify, to verify, to protect, to preserve, and to promote those Indiana sites and routes as part of the National Underground Railroad network. We dedicate ourselves and our resources to the research, education, interpretation, and reverence of our Underground Railroad heritage for the benefit of generations to come.

About the Indiana Freedom Trails logo: In August 2000, after a statewide contest, Indiana Freedom Trails chose this logo by Anitra Larae Donahue to visually identify and symbolize the organization. She explains: "The family in the foreground represents the countless individuals who risked life and limb for a chance at freedom. Their faces capture some of the emotions of escape, concern on the visage of the woman cradling the child, hope in the gaze of the man as he looks towards their destination. The structure is anonymous, its silhouette evoking the uncertainty found in every lighted window--would those inside offer help or harm? But the open doorway spills welcoming light, echoed in the lantern of the logo's text. This path leads from the dark foliage to the shelter, overhung by the 'Drinking Gourd' and the North Star's beacon of freedom."

Indiana Freedom Trails logo designed by Anitra Larae Donahue

website design by: