The New York State Archives has awarded $6.8 million in Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grants to 111 local governments, school districts, and educational institutions to help improve records management systems.
The grants will support a variety of projects, including aiding local governments in managing paper records, converting historical documents and microfilm to electronic formats, and backing up archival and vital records like maps, deeds, mortgages, cemetery records, meeting minutes, and other essential documents.
“The LGRMIF grants are designed to ensure that important paper records of historical value will be available and accessible to future generations, fostering meaningful learning opportunities,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr. “These grants will significantly enhance the capacity of local governments and educational institutions to manage records more effectively, ultimately making a lasting impact on our communities and our state.”
The New York State Archives, a division of the State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education, administers the LGRMIF grants. LGRMIF is a competitive program with grants awarded based on the merits of the applications, the State Archives explained in a press release. The LGRMIF is funded via revenues from fees paid when people file or record documents with county clerks and the Register of the City of New York.
Awards for the LGRMIF grants range from $4,306 to $150,000. Localities, school districts, and educational institutions were able to apply for grant funding that support at least one of five project categories:
- Disaster Management: projects aimed at developing, testing, and implementing disaster and business recovery plans to protect local government archival and vital records, both hardcopy and electronic.
- Inactive Records: projects aimed at planning, developing, or improving the management of records during the inactive phase of their life cycle. Inactive records are records that are used infrequently but must be retained because their retention periods have not yet expired.
- Historical Records: projects aimed at preserving historical records or using local government records as teaching tools in the community and in the classroom.
- Files Management: projects aimed at improving the systematic control of active files.
- Document Conversion and Access: projects aimed at converting records to another format through microfilming or imaging.
Grant projects and all related work must be completed by June 30, 2025.
