Ten Percent of National Endowment for the Humanities Budget Will Support Two Grantees

"The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant funds appear to have been put towards supporting two awards at nearly 10 percent of the agency's annual $207 million budget, the New York Times reported. The Trump administration previously canceled the NEH grants that had been approved under the former Biden administration, laid off the majority of the agency's staff, and most recently fired the scholarly council that reviewed the grants."

"While it is essential to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in the political and legal arenas, the humanities also have a vital role to play in this fight. And Tikvah is well positioned to bring a comprehensive approach, grounded in the best of humanities scholarship, to educating future leaders and the broader public on the ways in which the sinister and hate-filled attacks on Jewish people that we have been witnessing on American campuses and streets are, at a deeper level, also attacks on the very foundations that have made the United States the exceptional nation that it is."

"Efforts funded through this project include creating a Jewish civilization curriculum for middle and high school students, expanding a high school fellowship program offering seminars on Jewish civilization, developing university courses in the Jewish humanities, offering public programs, supporting a series of scholarly books on Jewish resilience, and establishing a fellowship program for early-career journalists writing about anti-Semitism and Jewish history and culture."

NEH grant funds were allocated to support two awards totaling nearly ten percent of the agency's $207 million annual budget. The Trump administration canceled previously approved grants, laid off most agency staff, and dismissed the scholarly council that reviewed grants. One award granted $10.4 million to Tikvah for a Jewish Civilization Project aimed at combating antisemitism. The advising council reportedly opposed the award because the application was vague and appeared advocacy-focused. Funded activities include K–12 curriculum development, high school and university programs, public programming, scholarly books on Jewish resilience, and a fellowship for early-career journalists.

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