Times may be tight, but the cash-strapped state of North Carolina has awarded Durham County $12,000 to prepare a National Register nomination for Stokesdale.

"Stokesdale" is the name applied to a neighborhood north and northwest of N.C. Central University, a historically black district of bungalows and period-revival homes.

The state money is being matched through the City of Durham by the Shepard Alliance for Enlightenment, a foundation established by Carolyn Green Boone of Durham. Boone is the great-great granddaughter of NCCU founder James Shepard.

Durham is one of 10 counties getting $84,164 in state historic-preservation grants.