Sewell presents ceremonial checks for more than $2 million in federal grants

Congresswoman Terri Sewell was in Selma Thursday and Friday to formally proclaim federal grants she helped secure for a local university, two Civil Rights sites and the Selma Police Department.

Sewell presented ceremonial checks for $500,000 to Selma University, the historic Brown Chapel AME Church and the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church. The grants are part of the $3.6 million that she helped secure from the National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund to preserve Civil Rights sites in Alabama and the $2.5 million that she helped secure to preserve historic structures on the campuses of Alabama’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, according to a statement from Sewell’s office.

Selma University President Dr. Stanford E. Angion said the funds will be used to repair Dinkins Memorial Hall, which was last renovated in 1980. The building, built in 1904 and rebuilt in 1921 after a fire, houses administrative offices and classrooms. Most of the university’s 54 students are in the building every school day, Angion said.

The $500,000 grant to Brown Chapel AME Church will go toward renovations to the historic church, which is currently closed to the public as the building goes through significant repairs.  

Tabernacle Baptist Church officials said some of their $500,000 grant will be used to make the church, which rises above Broad Street on concrete staircases, more accessible.

Both churches and Selma University were important parts of the Civil Rights movement. All three were the sites of organizing meetings and were rallying points for foot soldiers who participated in the Selma to Montgomery March to obtain voting rights for Black Americans.

On Friday Sewell presented a ceremonial check to the Selma Police Department. The funding will be used to hire additional law enforcement to patrol the city and work to combat gun violence. It will also help facilitate an open relationship between the police department and the community through education and training.

This public safety funding is part of the over $8 million that Sewell secured in the FY2022 government funding package for community projects in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, according to a news release.