As of June 23, 2025, National Heritage Areas – including Freedom’s Frontier NHA – have not received any money appropriated from the FY 2025 appropriations continuing resolution passed in March of this year (the third CR in FY 2025, which lasts through September 30). Based on multiple inquiries from Members of Congress, the Office of Management and Budget has not released the funds to the Department of Interior.

The delay in releasing the funding is taking place even though NHAs are funded and authorized by Congress. If unaddressed, the delay will end the Bus on Us grant program, which pays for school field trips to partner sites across our 41 counties; cease FFNHA Project Grants to community-run, volunteer museums and historical societies; and prevent Freedom’s Frontier from accomplishing its core mission: to promote tourism and economic development in Kansas and Missouri.

WHY A FUNDING DELAY MATTERS

In a normal funding cycle – and with a fully-staffed government – it takes 8-10 weeks for appropriated dollars to hit NHA accounts once released by OMB. Even if funds were released tomorrow, they would arrive dangerously close to the September 30 end of the fiscal year, and there are significant concerns about how quickly the reduced workforce at NPS will process funding. If funds aren’t fully processed prior to the end of the fiscal year, NHAs will forego their undisbursed FY 2025 funding.

THE IMPACT

During a recent House Natural Resources Committee hearing with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS) raised the issue of NHAs’ FY2025 funding. He stated Mississippi Gulf Coast NHA has “not received any funding for FY2025, with no clear timeline of disbursement through the NPS. These funds can bolster six coastal counties, and 45 coastal communities.”

Rep. Ezell is right. In addition to providing unmatched cultural resources and keeping America’s stories – like the settlement of the western frontier and the Kansas-Missouri Border War – alive, NHAs are regional economic drivers. According to one study, NHAs generate $12 billion in annual economic activity – a great return for less than $30 million in federal funding. Their work attracts more than 2.4 million people every year to participate in programming that reflects the American experience.

NHAs’ non-federal funding is more than triple what is appropriated by Congress. However, federal funding remains the cornerstone of their work throughout the year. Without federal dollars, leveraging private and other public-sector dollars because extremely difficult, if not impossible. As a result, many NHAs, including Freedom’s Frontier, would be forced to shut down. At minimum, all NHAs will have to reduce programming and grant-making, as many are already doing.

For an in-depth look at how the funding delays are already impacting NHA operations, check out this article detailing the experience of the Upper Houstatonic Valley NHA, which has already paused its robust grant program as a result of the funding delays. Freedom’s Frontier in Kansas and Missouri is also sounding the alarm, warning it will “cease to exist” if federal funding concerns aren’t resolved.

THE ASK

We need your voice now. Please call your legislators’ offices today and ask them to contact the Office of Management and Budget directly to urge the immediate release of these previously appropriated federal funds. OMB must quickly release FY 2025 funding for National Heritage Areas, and National Park Service staff must work quickly with NHAs to enact funding agreements and disburse appropriated dollars prior to September 30, 2025. Additional delays will inevitably lead to NHAs not being able to access FY 2025 funding, threatening the future of the program.

For further guidance, please see the call sheet below.

Your personal outreach will make a difference. Thank you for continuing to stand with Freedom’s Frontier and the communities we serve.