Library Grants

The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

The First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas, a program of The Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy, announces their 2005 grant competition. Laura Bush, who founded this Initiative when she was first lady of Texas, continues to serve as Honorary Chair. The Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning at Texas A & M university provides technical assistance to the family literacy programs funded each year. As of July, 2004, the Initiative had awarded nearly $2 million to ninety programs in 58 cities across the state. This year will mark the 10th annual competition.

The grants of up to $25,000 each are given to help create family literacy programs by building on existing literacy programs that work with only one generation, i,e. children or adults, so that complete family literacy programs can be created. The grant program also funds innovative projects within existing family literacy programs, as well as replication of successful family literacy programs with new populations or in new locations. Partnerships with other community groups are strongly encouraged. Past grantees include community-based organizations, libraries, school districts, community colleges, universities, charter schools, pediatric medical clinics, Head Start and Even Start programs, as well as other organizations. Successful family literacy programs include literacy instruction for parents or primary caregivers, reading or pre-reading activities for their children, and parent/child reading time and interactions. A successful grant application includes clearly stated objectives, along with a solid plan to measure whether or not those objectives have been achieved.

The 2005 application and guidelines will be available Feb.1, and can be downloaded at www-tcall.tamu.edu, or email your request to ppeebler@mcnairgrp.com.

For more information or questions about these grants please contact Pat Peebler at ppeebler@mcnairgrp.com or phone 713.336.7889. For more information about the work of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the Barbara Bush Texas Fund, go to the Foundation's website at www.barbarabushfoundation.com.

Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

The Foundation offers Mini-grants of $350 to School and Public Libraries for programs that encourage literacy and creativity in children.  Programs relating to the work of Ezra Jack Keats (writer and illustrator) are welcome, but not required.  A short application form is available on the Web site.  All applications must be submitted by September 15.  For information on Mr. Keats' work, visit the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website.

John Steinbeck Centennial

Applications are available for The Steinbeck Centennial Project, which offers $500 grants to libraries to present public programs on the life and work of John Steinbeck (1902-1968). To obtain a grant application or apply online, please visit www.Steinbeck100.org. The postmark deadline for applications is October 15.

The Steinbeck Centennial Project provides funding for a variety of public programs, including lectures by Steinbeck scholars, panel discussions featuring scholars or writers familiar with the themes portrayed in Steinbeck's works (e.g., rural poverty, migration, oceanography and ecology, WWII and the Vietnam War), screenings of films based on Steinbeck's works, scholar- or teacher-led book discussion groups, or discussions of the differences and similarities between the book and film versions of one of Steinbeck's works.

Libraries applying for a grant are required to develop a program for a public audience based on one of the aforementioned program ideas or a new idea that explores Steinbeck's life and work.   The Steinbeck Centennial Project is an initiative of  the Mercantile Library of New York and the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA) and with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  For questions about this program, please send an e-mail message to info@Steinbeck100.org or call Harold Augenbraum at (212)755-6710.

LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund

Since its inception in 1970, the Fund has provided over $80,000 in grants to support librarians in their fight for intellectual freedom and professional integrity.  A sister organization to the American Library Association, the Merritt Fund gives unique aid to librarians who face: 

• Workplace discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, age, disability, or place of national origin; 
• unfair employment practices; 
• professional and personal adversity due to their defense of intellectual freedom.

What kind of support have they funded in the past?  Some of the individuals who received grants include: 

• A school librarian who was denied tenure in a small-town district for vague reasons. The librarian had faced continued resistance to her stands for intellectual freedom.  A $1,000 grant from the Merritt Fund helped pay bills that had backed up until she found a new position.  
• A  medical librarian who was terminated without just cause.  The Merritt Fund granted $1,500 so she could secure legal counsel.
• A public librarian who did not support the library board's request to restrict children's access to the adult section of the library and was forced to resign.  The Merritt Fund provided a $1,430 grant to assist with attorney costs. For more information, visit The Merritt Fund website,

PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME

A reading, discussion and storytelling series offered by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The postmark deadline for applications is October 31.  Based on illustrated children's books, PRIME TIME is designed to help under-served families bond around the act of reading and learning together.  It teaches parents and children to read and discuss humanities topics, and aids them in selecting books and becoming active public library users.

In 2002, selected libraries will receive:
* A total of $1,650 for scholar, storyteller and reader honoraria

* 25 sets of reusable books and book bags (to be returned to the LEH when the program ends

* Up to $75 for shipping books to the next site

* Camera-ready publicity materials

* A site-support manual including discussion guides and evaluation materials

* Award certificates for participants

* Travel, lodging and some meals for the four partnership members to attend the training workshop, January 11 - 13, 2002, in New Orleans

PRIME TIME is based on a successful series of the same name that began in 1991 at the East Baton Rouge (La.) Parish Library and has spread nationally with funding from NEH.  Nearly 6,000 individuals have participated in more than 170 PRIME TIME programs in 25 states. For more information and an application, please visit http://www.ala.org/publicprograms/primetime/ or send an e-mail message to eness@leh.org.

The Tocker Foundation

Tocker Foundation grants give support, encouragement, and assistance to small rural libraries in Texas.  Currently, the Tocker Foundation's emphasis is to assist in extending public library services to areas without service or with inadequate service.  The Tocker Foundation wants to make library services accessible to individuals who, by reason of distance, residence, handicap, age, literacy level or other disadvantage, are unable to receive the benefits of public library services.  In addition, the Tocker Foundation is targeting individuals within the communities, including those with limited English speaking abilities.  Also, assistance is provided to libraries that serve as community information referral centers and those that provide literacy programs for adults and school dropouts in cooperation with other organizations.  We also work with those libraries that wish to extend access through the effective use of technology.  

For more information, visit the Tocker Foundation's website.
     Tocker Guidelines and Application