Applications are being accepted by the National Park Service for up to $3 million in grants available to those seeking to preserve and interpret U.S. sites where Japanese-Americans were confined during World War II.

The park service is holding a question-and-answer session in Honolulu this evening for nonprofit organizations, educational entities, government agencies and other groups wishing to participant in the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program for 2010.

More than 1,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in at least eight camps in Hawai'i during World War II. Honouliuli housed about 300 people of Japanese ancestry, as well as about 100 people of German and Italian ancestry.

Last year, four groups from Hawai'i received a total of $142,890 when Congress authorized $1 million for the program. The Hawai'i Heritage Center received $58,600 to conduct a study on the last two remaining structures at the Honouliuli Internment Camp in West O'ahu as a guide for future restoration efforts. The University of Hawai'i received $26,148 for its own study on Honouliuli using various methods.

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i received $43,187 for a traveling exhibit highlighting the internment experience at eight Hawai'i sites, while the University of Hawai'i Center for Oral History received $14,955 for a project on youths who were incarcerated

The minimum grant request is a $5,000 federal share. Each grant must include a 2:1 match. In other words, for every $5,000 received, project organizers must come up with $2,500 in nonfederal dollars. The deadline to apply is March 4.

For more information, go to www.nps.gov/history/hps/HPG/JACS/index.html.

MEETING TODAY

The U.S. Park Service will hold a question-and-answer session for entities seeking a grant for projects that preserve and protect Japanese-American confinement sites from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.