Fayetteville Public Library Wins Light the Way Grant
RSSBy SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 03/02/2010
Arkansas’s Fayetteville Public Library is winner of this year’s 2010 “Light the Way: Library Outreach to the Underserved” grant, which comes with $3,000 to help the library further continue its exceptional work.
Sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the grant is presented in honor of Newbery Medalist and Geisel Honoree Kate DiCamillo through the contributions of her publisher, Candlewick Press.
 |
|
The Light the Way: Library Outreach to the Underserved” grant honors award-winning author Kate DiCamillo. |
The Fayetteville Public Library will use the money to expand and develop their Books for Borrowing program, designed to put books into the hands of underserved children and their families. The program allows parents, caregivers, and children to borrow books from a small lending library, helping kids with school readiness and future success.
Books for Borrowing operates in four Head Start centers and plans to expand to Children’s House, a year-round therapeutic child development and crisis intervention center, and the Elizabeth Richardson Center, a day treatment center for children with orthopedic, neuromuscular, and developmental disabilities.
The ALSC Library Service to Special Population Children and their Caregivers Committee (LSSPCC) selected the Fayetteville Public Library based on an application process. Special population children include those who have learning or physical disabilities, speak English as a second language, are in a nontraditional school environment or a nontraditional family setting,(such as teen parents, foster children, children in the juvenile justice system and children in gay and lesbian families), and those who need accommodation service to meet their needs.
Candlewick, based in Massachusetts, publishes books by authors such as DiCamillo and M. T. Anderson, as well as the ‘Ologies and Judy Moody series and the Where's Waldo and Maisy books.
