On Thursday, April 3, 2025 previously awarded National Endowment for the Humanities funds were bluntly terminated across the United States. Affected are schools, community organizations, individuals, and essential operating funds for all state and jurisdictional humanities councils — Oregon Humanities in Portland among them.

Established in 1965, the NEH makes the humanities accessible to all Americans. “The humanities” might sound purely academic, but the contributions of this small-but-generous institution are so thoroughly woven into the fabric of American life that their loss will be felt by almost everyone. Below are some ways the NEH has supported Oregonians across the 36 counties of our state:

Communities: Oregon Humanities has awarded rural libraries across the state grants enabling them to create and host events in their own communities. Each week on Oregon Humanities’ This Place podcast, Oregonians talk about the places that matter to them: where they live, work, and find joy.  Oregon Humanities’ facilitation training supports military veterans and other community members interested in developing their capacity to help us listen and think together.

Literacy: The NEH sponsors programs for K-12 through adult learners, including free college courses for adults on low incomes. The NEH also promotes Oregonians’ cultural literacy about our great state. Institutions from the High Desert Museum in Bend to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland to the Black Cultural Initiative in Eugene to the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts to the Pendleton Center for Arts—all these and more receive funding from the NEH.

Democracy: The NEH creates venues for civic participation and the exchange of ideas across political beliefs. Recent topics of Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project include Housing and Belonging in Portland and Nehalem; Migration in Bend; Urban/Rural Identities in Pendleton, and numerous virtual presentations on subjects like parenting and how to talk with a loved one about their end-of-life wishes.

State-wide programming: The NEH works with a network of state and territorial humanities councils that serve as the bridge between this federal agency and frontier, rural, and urban communities nationwide. Over 2023-2024, Oregon Humanities, the council for the state of Oregon, distributed 44 grants to 42 recipient organizations. Over 80,000 people attended public programs they sponsored.

Research and Teaching: Oregon’s students benefit when their teachers are funded to create innovative, research-driven courses and internships. Humanities-informed courses inspire students to become lifelong learners, training them to delve deep into questions about meaning, ethics, and how humans engage with the natural and the social world around us.

NEH grants have provided training for K-12 teachers in Mesoamerican history and culture; brought Indigenous language courses online; and expanded access to Pacific Northwest archival artifacts. The grants revoked on April 3rd include the development of a new Creative Industries minor at Portland State University. These funds would prepare students to serve local industries by bringing together the study of music and the arts with computer science and business.

The NEH also furnishes start-up funding for research centers that form hubs of engagement between campuses and local communities. Both the OSU and UO Humanities Centers were established in the 1980s in part through NEH funding. OSU President John Byrne and UO President Paul Olum – and the donors who matched these NEH grants – recognized the value of the humanities in transforming Oregon State University and the University of Oregon into nationally-recognized research universities. Communities are invited to share in the knowledge generated on campus through speakers, book clubs, wine chats, and works-in-progress sessions.

The scope and impact of the NEH are profound, and yet the agency accounts for less than .01% of the federal budget. The loss of NEH programs will be felt in every corner of Oregon, for years to come. We ask readers to call or message your U.S. senators and representatives and urge them to protect the NEH.

Leah Middlebrook, director of the Oregon Humanities Center, wrote this on behalf of Adam Davis, executive director, Oregon Humanities; Paul Peppis, former director of the Oregon Humanities Center; Megan Ward, director of humanities initiatives, Oregon State University; Erica Bornstein, incoming divisional associate dean of humanities, University of Oregon; and Harry Wonham, outgoing divisional associate dean of humanities, University of Oregon.