Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Amerika Samoa Humanities Board President Fai’ivae Iuli A. Godinet and Board Members have been awarded $50,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of the “Why It Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation” Initiative. The program is administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

This initiative is intended to catalyze humanities programs on electoral engagement in the run up to the upcoming election and its immediate aftermath. “This assistance couldn’t have come in the most appropriate time for our people in American Samoa. This is the opportunity for our people to address civic participation as it relates to electoral engagement in a variety of topics”, says Board President Fai’ivae Iuli A. Godinet.

We are very grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for reaching out to the Amerika Samoa Humanities Council.

The funds will support public dialogue and other forms of public participation to explore vitally important topics such as voting matters, voting rights, ideological polarization, your voice, voter suppression, civic experience in the election season, to name a few.

Please look for our schedule of events on our Facebook page, website, or find out by contacting our office. If you would like to participate in any of the forums, send us an email at ashc.office@ashcouncil.org .

ASHC is an affiliate of the National Endowment of the Humanities. We work with many organizations to bring humanities-based programming to benefit local community efforts. Organizations interested in learning more about their upcoming grant opportunities and programs conducted should visit their website: http://www.ashcouncil.org 633-4870, 633-4871.