NEH Union - AFGE L3403

Hard to learn from history when the current ruling power destroys the funding that makes #history accessible and available and decimates the work of historians and institutions of higher knowledge. 🙄 #NEH

Wait 'til you hear about how the peer review process has been going over at #NEH (humanities, not health).

60 years ago, September 29th, President Lyndon B Johnson signed into being the NEA and the NEH. Today marks the 1st day of National Arts and Humanities Month. And President Trump marked it by firing the majority of the National Council on the Humanities. Here is the statute that created the NEA/NEH.

ICYMI - this is one way of putting it, we suppose. #NEH

Today marks six months since almost all National Endowment for the Humanities grants were "terminated" and most staff were placed on leave and summarily fired a week later.

We're still dedicated to sharing the stories of the #humanities and the resilience of our grantees and staff. #NEH

Thank you for raising visibility. Whether it's speaking up about today's news or the firing of two-thirds of National Endowment for the Humanities staff back in June, it's never too late to shine light on the people who have helped make the #humanities and #history happen for all Americans. #NEH

They're not re-hiring us, though! 🤔 Guess we'll just keep collecting unemployment.

Not just good things, but little-known things, things that opened new doors into knowledge and growth.

Who wouldn't want to support things that edge us to a better, kinder, more just world?

85% of the National Endowment for the Humanities' Council were abruptly fired this morning. Four members remain to weigh in on all grant recommendations. #NEH

"I just fear that there will not be that kind of discourse anymore. There will be one perspective." - Karen A. Stout

🎁: wapo.st/3IRQBdg

And yet, most of us fired civil servants are in exactly that position!

“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal – it’s immoral and unconscionable.” - #AFGE Nat'l President Everett Kelley

We stand in solidarity with our CPB colleagues and friends. So many incredible projects were made possible by and with them. ✊

President Trump is attacking our arts, the showcase of our humanity [letter] The cost-of-living crisis means working-class people often don’t have the spare time or funding to consume and participate in the arts.

"The arts are a showcase of our humanity, and Americans shouldn’t be comfortable with their disappearance." - Helena Gennace, #Pennsylvania #humanities #NEH

We have to admit - we miss our work, our programs, and most of all, our applicants and grantees, a lot. #NEH #NEA 😔

We're literally on the same page this morning! Read our alt colleague's 🧵 here:

#NEH #NEA #humanities

National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-209)

#OTD in 1965 (60 years ago!), the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act was enacted, stating that "the arts and the humanities belong to all the people of the United States."

Today we're still mourning all that's been lost at #NEH, and hope that it will someday be restored.

Former Federal Workers on the Cost of Trump's Cuts (Gift Article) The New York Times photographed and interviewed two dozen former federal workers from across the country to get a sense of what they left behind and what they face next.

"We did so much with a very small budget."

"It is not wrong to reorganize. But to simply eliminate positions and expertise without planning is insane."

The National Endowment for the Humanities isn't included in this article, but we staff certainly feel many of the sentiments here. #NEH

The full force of Trump’s federal job cuts is about to hit the D.C. region Paychecks will end soon for thousands of workers who took offers of deferred resignation — and a possible shutdown looms, too.

"For many government employees, the economic danger is already here. In interviews, seven federal workers of varying ages, backgrounds and life stages — all of whom live in or around Washington, and took the resignation offer — described a despair-inducing job search saga."

🎁: wapo.st/42f5Vaw

We stand steadfast, as always, with our National Endowment for the Humanities grantees and our staff (past and present), who have been so deeply affected by these senseless actions. Thank you to all who continue to speak up. 🙏 #NEH @wired.com @zoeschiffer.bsky.social

Thank you for speaking up.

"There are thousands of high school students who would have benefited from learning about their communities, understanding how to make change in their communities and working closely with their teachers and local leaders in the region." - Michael Karp, #CSUSB #California #NEH #humanities

"In a year already filled with cruel & relentless attacks on the federal workforce, this is yet another example of this administration treating us like pawns." - an #EPA staffer

Thousands of us have already been laid off. Those who remain - inc. a handful of our #NEH colleagues - deserve better.

(Selective) history will now only be through a paywall, and/or whatever your local (probably defunded) library can afford.

Most of us NEH staff have been unemployed for months now. There's hardly anyone left to do things like read drafts, put together webinars, or consult with applicants.

What if we got this kind of Big Energy for the National Endowment for the Humanities so that all the fired staff, terminated grants, and cancelled programs were reinstated? Hmm hmm? #NEH

There are multiple out there. We are hopeful. 🙏

Woodmere’s grant money reinstated - The Chestnut Hill Local After their Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in March, the agency, President Donald Trump and his administration to reclaim it. Now, the federal government has reinstated the grant.

Great news! If they can restore this previously-terminated grant, they can restore 🚨ALL🚨 grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services & the National Endowment for the Humanities

(the #SaveAmericasTreasures grant program is/was a joint program between #NPS, #IMLS, #NEH, and #NEA)

Is this an @theonion.com headline? At least they got this right:

"Meanwhile, the #NEH has laid off more than half its employees and canceled more than 1,000 grants that don’t align with Trump administration’s ideological tenets, including projects related to Black history and Indigenous cultures."

See how local arts organizations are dealing with recent funding cuts Local arts organizations grapple with funding uncertainty

"For a society to support the arts and say yes, this is important to us, that’s vital. To defund the arts is a very dangerous direction. To lose the arts very quickly evolves into losing the soul." - Ed Mallett, artistic director of Tuba Bach #Michigan #BigRapids #arts #humanities #NEH

The disembowelment of the NEH has been horrifying to watch, especially when I think of the hours upon hours of meticulous care its employees and reviewers devoted to shepherding its meager resources.