Historic Germantown is one of hundreds of organizations whose IMLS grant have been cancelled. The consequences go beyond fundraising and infrastructure issues
By Peter Dobrin, Philadelphia Inquirer
In 2023, Historic Germantown received word that it had won a two-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to pilot a new hands-on science program for middle schoolers called Science Sleuths.
The size of the award was relatively modest — $108,812 — but the impact promised to be enormous. If the initiative was able to prove its worth, it could be replicated, bringing accessible science education to thousands of Philadelphia students.
Today, the program is calculating its losses. Historic Germantown recently learned the grant was one of hundreds across the country approved by the IMLS and the National Endowment for the Humanities that have been canceled by the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk.
If leaders of Historic Germantown cannot find replacement money, in the next week or so, to fund the program through the rest of the school year, they say they have no choice but to shut it down.
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