African American Memorial Conservancy Receives $500,000 Grant from Houston Endowment to Preserve Fort Bend County History and Expand Community Impact

Organizational Capacity Building Grant will help AAMC sustain the Kendleton monument as a living resource for education, wellness, and economic opportunity

KENDLETON, TX — The African American Memorial Conservancy (AAMC) today announced it has received a $500,000 grant from Houston Endowment to strengthen its organizational infrastructure as it transforms the newly built African American Heritage Monument + Park at Bates Allen Park into a sustainable, year-round destination that safeguards Fort Bend County's history and benefits the community that grew from it.

The grant, which runs from July 2026 through July 2027, arrives as AAMC shifts from completing the monument, which honors the freed Black Texans who founded Kendleton during the Reconstruction Era by purchasing land, organizing local government, and building schools and institutions of their own making, to sustaining it as a living resource for the community it commemorates.

“The African American Memorial Conservancy has created a powerful place for history to be shared and experienced in the African American Heritage Monument and Park,” said Bao-Long Chu, Houston Endowment Program Director for Arts & Culture and Greenspaces. “We look forward to the organization’s growth as it builds out its capacity to steward this important cultural green space for future generations.”

The grant invests in the people and systems needed to sustain that vision: professional staff and leadership capacity, stronger governance and financial systems, expanded community engagement and partnerships, and a diversified fundraising base. It also lays the groundwork for future educational programming, including planning for AAMC’s Legacy Learning Center.

“This transformational investment from Houston Endowment is a defining milestone in the Conservancy’s journey,” said Lucy Bremond, Founding Board Chair of the African American Memorial Conservancy. “Their partnership enables us to strengthen our organizational capacity while honoring our shared history and creating a lasting educational and cultural legacy. We are deeply grateful for Houston Endowment’s confidence in our mission and their commitment to building stronger communities through history, education and opportunity.”

For Fort Bend County residents, the grant means direct and growing benefit: expanded programming across AAMC’s five impact pillars: education, wellness, arts and culture, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity, and a Conservancy built to sustain that work well beyond the grant period.

“I am proud of the investment that the Houston Endowment is making in our efforts to celebrate the giants in history who’ve come before us,” said Dexter L. McCoy, Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner, who shepherded the monument through construction. “Together we are ensuring that every person who visits the African American Heritage Monument is able to know what is possible in their lives because of what has been made possible in the lives of so many who have come before.”

“I want to thank the Houston Endowment Foundation for its generous support of the African American Memorial Conservancy,” said Vincent Morales, Fort Bend County Precinct 1 Commissioner, whose precinct includes Kendleton and Bates Allen Park. “This generous investment will help preserve and celebrate an important part of our county’s history for future generations. We are grateful for this partnership and for everyone working to make this programming and vision into a reality.”

For details on visiting the monument or supporting the organization, visit www.africanamericanmc.org.

About the African American Memorial Conservancy

The African American Memorial Conservancy (AAMC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, honoring, and sharing the history of Fort Bend County's Freedmen's Town community. Headquartered in Kendleton, Texas, one of the oldest towns in America founded by formerly enslaved people, AAMC stewards a permanent cultural campus, home to the African American Heritage Monument and Park, built on the ground where that history took place. Through preservation, education, and community programming, AAMC works to ensure this story is taught, celebrated, and carried forward by every generation.

About Houston Endowment

Houston Endowment is a private foundation established in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones, to improve the quality of life for everyone in Greater Houston. Today, it has more than $2 billion in assets and invests about $100 million a year in strengthening public education, increasing civic engagement, enhancing the region's arts sector, and growing Houston's greenspaces, as well as addressing emerging opportunities in our region. Working with fellow Houstonians, Houston Endowment pursues bold goals, builds partnerships, and invests in innovative solutions to create a vibrant region where all have the opportunity to thrive.

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