Harford County is Designated a Certified Local Government by National Park Service

Harford County was recently designated a Certified Local Government by the National Park Service and the Maryland Historical Trust recognizing the County’s commitment to local preservation and equally as importantly, opening the county to new preservation funding programs.

The National Park Service and the Maryland Historical Trust both approved Harford County’s application to become a Certified Local Government based on a municipalities’ commitment to historic preservation in this jurisdiction.

“Harford County’s historic properties are a window into our past, and by preserving them, we’re preserving our history,” County Executive Barry Glassman said. “This federal certification will help expand our efforts to protect these irreplaceable treasures.”

With the inclusion of Harford County, there are now 11 counties and 11 municipalities in Maryland with this distinction. Across the country, over 2,000 locales across the United States are part of the Certified Local Government (CLG) program.

With designation as a CLG, municipalities may apply for specific funding programs from the federal and state government and targeted technical preservation assistance from the State Historic Preservation Office, in Maryland, the Maryland Historical Trust. Grants that are available to CLGs include the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant and Underrepresented Community Grants from the National Park Service. Additionally, in Maryland, 10% of allocations from the Maryland Historic Preservation FUnd are earmarked for CLGs.

Select critieria for inclusion in the program, include, briefly:

• Establishing and maintaining a qualified historic preservation commission,
• Enforcing state or local legislation related to designation and protection of historic properties, and
• Maintain an inventory of local historic resources.

Preservation Maryland is working with two certified Certified Local Government’s in Maryland, City of Baltimore and Montgomery County on a National Park Service CLG Program-gunded project that will result in the state’s first National Register nominations related to LGBTQ history in Maryland. The project will also contribute considerable new research about this underrepresented population that may lead to future additional work including more National Register nominations and/or Maryland Inventory of Historic Places (MIHP) forms held for public access by the Maryland Historical Trust.

LIST OF CLG in MARYLAND

CLG-SPECIFIC PRESERVATION FUNDING

Learn more about the CLG program