THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The Heritage Foundation



The Heritage Foundation

Introduction

The Heritage Foundation is a private independent non-profit, whose mission is to defend and enhance heritage endangered unprotected by the state, the "local heritage", a heritage which is not classified or registered. The foundation was created in France by the law of 2 July 1996 and inspired by the National Trust UK. The Heritage Foundation mobilizes all energies, both collective (local authorities, associations, companies), and individual, on programs to restore these buildings that occupy an important place in our collective memory.

Discussion and Analysis

The Heritage Foundation sponsors a variety of initiatives. The most prominent of these include congressional fellowships, a program that educates junior congressional staffers in Heritage's conservative principles; an internship program designed “to introduce undergraduate and graduate students to the policymaking process and encourage them to become active and effective participants in public affairs” and a job bank that assists conservative job seekers in locating employment in congressional offices and policy associations (Norman, 1996).

Heritage and Foreign Policy

Although better known for its advocacy of rightist economic and domestic policies, the Heritage Foundation has served since the Reagan era as a valid proponent of militarist U.S. defense policies. The Heritage Foundation has never accepted this way of thinking. It believes that the first principles on which the United States can be founded must guide its foreign as well as its domestic policy. Heritage's analysts are as concerned to ensure that America provides effectively for its common defense, and for the defense of its allies and interests, as they are to protect its sovereignty. Indeed, defense, as the first duty of government, is the ultimate expression of sovereignty.

Missions Multiple

The main tasks of the Heritage Foundation are:

Promote the preservation and enhancement of local heritage, making the wealth of local memory, identifying buildings and sites at risk of deterioration or disappearance, and educating local stakeholders to the need of restoration.

Generate and organize partnerships with public and private. The foundation is not the prime contractor for restoration projects, its delegates are working hand in hand with the various departments of the State: Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs (DRAC), Departmental Service of Architecture and Heritage (SDAP), Architects of buildings in France (ABF) etc, and sign agreements with local authorities and local associations of heritage preservation. They also seek to mobilize the patronage of local businesses.

Finally, directly or indirectly encourage the transfer of jobs and know-how and job creation, ...