 The Black Church has always been a beacon of hope, a beacon of liberation for our people. We are here at Second Baptist Church, which stands in the shadows of downtown Los Angeles. This place was imbued with a multiplicity of stories, from the architectural legacy and connection to Paul Williams, one of the second-generation African-American trained architects. Paul Williams believed that African-Americans deserved beautiful architecture, and he selected projects that would uplift the Black community. When Thomas Griffith approached Paul Williams to design a building, they wanted an African-American Protestant cathedral and a civic auditorium. The end result is this building that seats 2,500 people with a rolled balcony and a kind of an oblong kind of shape to it. And the exterior is this Romanesque architecture, but the central point to understand is that this is both a sacred space and a civic space. I became a member of Second Baptist in 1945. This was a very vibrant church when I joined, and there were lots and lots of celebrities who would also be there, including, for instance, Belafonte, Diane, Carol, and many others. I've heard stories about the Great Migration. Second Baptist was a nucleus for the migrants as they came to the West Coast. Second Baptist has continued their involvement with the NAACP. Second has always been at the forefront of civil rights. The Action Fund is partnering with Second Baptist Church here in LA as part of our preserving Black churches project. So through our partnership with Second Baptist, we are bringing the resources and support to not only preserve the physical historic building, but also improve the capacity of the church to steward and manage this site in the future. As you can see, our church is undergoing major renovations. When this church was constructed, the material that was used then was wood, and that is simply eroded over the years. We are facing a major financial hardship to pay for the restoration of our sanctuary. This is a 100-year-old structure. The roof is in need of repair. The Judson Stainless windows need some work that will assist them. Maintenance is an ongoing process, and with an aging congregation, it is oftentimes hard to kind of sustain members to kind of give it a level to maintain or kind of provide maintenance needs for a church as well as their spiritual needs. Our partnership with Second Baptist Church is to help them create a preservation blueprint and a roadmap for the perpetual stewardship of this iconic cultural monument. To collaborate with the congregation to fully understand how to tell their story and to look at the opportunities for developing public programming that will attract and educate a new audience in the history of this profound place and its legacy. And our hope is once we complete the stewardship planning process that the church will be empowered to fully restore this important piece of American history and to secure the investment needed to sustain its perpetual preservation. When you look at all of the memories that wrapped around people's lives, you know, baptisms, prayers, weddings, services, celebrating and commemorating the life of the departed loved one, and so we haven't been able to do that in the context of this sacred space, which means a lot to us. Place always etches out in our minds what brings out the best in us. It ignites our emotions in such a way that we feel good, and so it's going to be a grand celebration when we come back up in here. We're going to be dancing and shouting and praising and singing. We're looking forward to it.