Constellation of Living Memorials Grants

Helping communities care for historic cemeteries as living landscapes.

Constellation of Living Memorials provides $1,500 annual grants to historic cemeteries across Texas to help local communities care for these sacred places while restoring native habitat, reconnecting people to local history, and building long-term community stewardship.

Our goal is simple: provide communities with practical resources to begin the work, strengthen work already underway, and become part of a growing network of people reimagining historic cemeteries as places of history, nature, learning, and connection.

Remembering history. Restoring Nature. Reconnecting community.

What CLM Grants Support

CLM grants are designed to support hands on projects that improve the ecological health, accessibility, understanding, and long term stewardship of historic cemeteries.

Funding may support projects such as:

  • Removal of invasive plant species

  • Native seeds, plants, and habitat restoration

  • Tools and supplies for volunteer work

  • Educational and interpretive materials

  • Community volunteer workdays

  • Cemetery documentation and research

  • Preservation related materials and activities

  • CLM educational or informational signage

  • Headstone conservation and repair when performed by an appropriately trained preservation professional

Up to 50% of a CLM grant may be used for qualified headstone repair and conservation.

Projects should reflect the character, history, ecology, and needs of the individual cemetery and its community.

Who Can Apply?

CLM welcomes applications from people and organizations actively working to care for a historic Texas cemetery in need.

Applicants may include:

  • Cemetery associations

  • Friends groups

  • Nonprofit organizations

  • Community organizations

  • Historical and preservation groups

  • Churches and faith based organizations responsible for historic cemeteries

  • Community volunteers and cemetery stewards

  • Other organizations or groups demonstrating responsibility for the care of an eligible cemetery

You do not need to have a large organization or an established restoration program to begin.

CLM is particularly interested in supporting communities where committed local people are ready to become long-term stewards of a historic cemetery.

Grant Amount

Eligible cemeteries may receive $1,500 per cemetery, per year.

CLM intentionally keeps the grant process straightforward so communities can spend more time doing the work and less time navigating complicated grant requirements.

More Than a Grant

A CLM grant is an invitation to become a Star the Constellation of Living Memorials.

Participating cemeteries gain access to a growing network of cemetery volunteers, conservation professionals, educators, Extension resources, community partners, and other cemetery stewards who are sharing what works and learning from one another.

CLM's approach brings together three essential elements:

Community
Building local stewardship and reconnecting people with these sacred places.

Government
Developing relationships with municipalities, counties, Extension programs, and other public resources that can help communities sustain their work.

Environment
Using intentional native landscaping and responsible land management to restore habitat and biodiversity while maintaining appropriate access to gravesites and historic features.

What We Ask of Grant Recipients

Our reporting process is intentionally simple.

Grant recipients are asked to submit a final report (template provided to make it easy) describing how the funds were used and what was accomplished.

Whenever possible, we also encourage participants to document their work through photographs, volunteer participation, observations of plants and wildlife, and stories about the people and history connected to the cemetery.

These shared experiences help other communities learn and help demonstrate the collective impact of the growing Constellation.

Is Your Cemetery Ready to Join the Constellation?

If you care for a historic Texas cemetery in need, we invite you to tell us about the cemetery, the people working to protect it, and how a CLM grant could help.

You do not need to have everything figured out before you apply.

Sometimes the most important step is simply getting started.

Interested in applying for a Constellation of Living Memorials grant to support your local historic Texas cemetery in need?

Apply for the $1,500 grant here.

Questions?

Interested in applying but not sure whether your cemetery or proposed project qualifies?

We encourage you to contact Constellation of Living Memorials. Part of our mission is helping communities identify the resources, relationships, and next steps needed to care for these sacred places for generations to come.

Remembering history. Restoring Nature. Reconnecting community.

Our vision is to scale across America. If you’re located outside of Texas, please reach out to Melinda Garde, CLM’s Community Partnership Liaison, Melinda@ConstellationofLivingMemorials.org.

We appreciate your patience—we’re building this Constellation step by step, and we’ll be in your state soon!

 How the Constellation of Living Memorials Works

The Constellation of Living Memorials (CLM) represents a groundbreaking approach to redefining community engagement in historic cemeteries. Rapid urbanization has led to a disconnection from an authentic sense of place, including the memories of those we honor, histories to remember, and the surrounding natural environment.  By reimagining these spaces as mixed-use areas, CLM creates a tapestry that educates about local culture and emphasizes the importance of restoring native ecosystems, bridging the gap between humanity and nature, one cemetery at a time.

As Dallas (all cities included) undergoes exponential growth, outdoor spaces, including cemeteries, will be vital for improving public health by fostering a robust ecosystem. Urbanization has disrupted the native ecosystem, and one of CLM’s goals is to tackle this issue, which affects the health of both humans and wildlife.

Engaging the neighboring communities of each cemetery is central to the ongoing maintenance of these historic sites. This tackles the complex issue arising when families relocate or pass away, which can lead to cemeteries becoming dumping grounds or attracting crime, including drug trafficking and prostitution.

CLM empowers the community by providing tools that encourage proactive engagement in celebrating the circle of life.

Criteria to be involved in preserving cultural and natural history:

We request that you include in your stationery, website, banners, collateral, and social media channels that your cemetery is “A Star in the Constellation of Living Memorials Program” by adding our logo. Please request a high-resolution logo for printed materials to Melinda@ConstellationofLivingMemorials.org

Cultural History Component

As a recipient of the Hunt Institute SMU Texas Impact Enterprise Award, CLM is included in the Texas Impact Map Hub, a pioneering mapping platform showcasing the diverse impact of enterprises across various sectors in Texas.

CLM has developed a cultural archeological curriculum that offers guidelines for headstone cleaning, records conditions for repair, and maps GPS locations to interface with the Genealogical Society and access grave databases.

 To foster community awareness and engagement, participate in and/or create public art exhibitions and storytelling through live biography performances.

Produced a seven-part educational documentary series donated to the Dallas Library system, “ Warren Ferris Cemetery: A Future As Well As a Past “ (CLM’s case study).

Documentary Segment 1,” Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery Introduction”

Documentary Segment 3: “Warren Angus Ferris, Surveyor, and His Impact on the Growth of Dallas” featuring guest speaker Chris Freeman.

Documentary Segment 6, “Texan by Nature: Ferris Cemetery, A Conversation for Successful Land Conservation,” features guest speaker Rachel Seets, a Prairie Restoration Expert and Native Prairie Associate of Texas, discussing CLM’s environmental impact.

Documentary Segment 7: “Ferris Cemetery’s Pocket Prairie and Woodland Forest Restoration” featuring guest speaker Victoria Clow, Cemetery Archaeologist (CLM’s cultural impact).

Steps to Success:

CLM developed a CLM lesson plan for the Community College Biological Anthropology Lab Science course, using a STEM-based syllabus designed to accompany the Introduction to Biological Anthropology (ANTH2401) course at Dallas College. One of the more popular science courses, the lesson plan will align with the commonly used community college textbook at https://explorations.americananthro.org/. The activity will be shared at https://explorations. americananthro.org/index.php/lab-&-activities-manual/ is included in the online manual to be adopted nationwide.

Natural History Component

Allocate at least one-eighth of the property to create a native wildlife habitat. Native habitats are essential for reestablishing a healthy ecosystem that has evolved over millennia. The relationship between a region’s native plants, trees, insects, and animals has been disrupted; therefore, reintroducing native vegetation is crucial for fostering a balanced ecosystem.  What was once considered unwanted in a natural setting, such as insects and rodents, is integral to societal health.  Animals and insects maintain the balance of a healthy ecosystem.

Steps to success:

Remove invasive plants unless they were intentionally planted as part of cultural practices, and nurture the native species that begin to grow. Hidden seed banks, shielded from sunlight for decades, have often been outcompeted by invasive species, suffocated by lawns, or destroyed by mowing. You may discover that you have an endangered species or what was once believed to be an extinct species on the property.

 Do not spray herbicides to remove mowed areas; this could kill the native plants.

After removing invasive plant species, sow native seeds or plant vegetation in the area. Seeding and planting should occur in early spring or fall to ensure the area can withstand the summer heat.

 Generally, it takes three years to grow a mature garden. Water the area selectively during summer or winter droughts to help establish the new garden; after that, no additional watering is needed. In the long term, maintenance costs will be greatly reduced.

Maine University has sponsored the development of the Constellation of Living Memorials Guide: Reimagining Historic Cemeteries as Wildlife Habitats for Community Engagement for nationwide use.  Texas A&M is currently developing the CLM Guide for Texas to be completed Nov. 2025. 

We offer a proven, successful program backed by empirical evidence of replicable success that provides significant benefits. What we bring to the table is a reliable, replicable program with undeniable positive impact. We have concluded the second year of the two-year Constellation of Living Memorials pilot program and are rolling out city, state and nationwide.

For more information, contact Julie Fineman, President and founder of the Constellation of Living Memorials, a program created by the Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery, a 501c3.                   Julie@Constellationoflivingmemorials.org