2018-2019 Outreach Mini Grants Awarded

Thank you everyone for applying for our 2018-2019 Outreach Mini-Grant cycle! It was a very difficult decision for our COSAC team, but we were able to fund the following projects:

Berkshire Free Library

Project: Senior Reading Room

Come visit our new Senior Reading Room. Enjoy a comfortable area to relax, read and meet your neighbors. Information about special senior events, local and national news and informative materials that will enhance your senior life is available in this room.

Awarded: $1,534

 

Candor Free Library

Project: Community Fine Arts

Under the guidance of the instructor, students will create fine art pieces with materials that are unusual, high-quality and versatile. All levels of students are welcome. Each project will be taught at a grade school level, but all students will be gently encouraged to use their skills to go beyond the initial bounds of the project if they so choose. The classes will be led by an experienced teacher with a Master of Fine Arts. She states that “as a class leader, I am gentle and encouraging, but ready to jump in and help any student who is unsure or frustrated.”

Awarded: $860

 

Stewart B. Lang Memorial Library – Cato

Project: Building a Community of Readers in Cato

In an effort to increase literacy across many age groups and promote community generosity and engagement, we are installing little library boxes in and around Cato and Ira, NY. These little lending libraries will provide geographically isolated residents of this area with access to reading materials as well give them a chance to give back to the community. The take-a-book-leave-a-book movement has enjoyed quite a bit of success and we’re eager to try it out here in Cato!

Awarded: $700

 

Cortland Free Library

Project: Mail-It Outreach Program

The Mail-It Outreach Program at the Cortland Free Library strives to provide library services to our patrons who are unable to visit us. The Mail-It Outreach Program will provide monthly book meetings and the ability to check out books for residents at Walden Place, Crown Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and the Cortland Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. The Mail-It Outreach Program also provides “mail order book service” to our homebound patrons in Cortland County.

Awarded: $2,250

 

Southworth Library Association – Dryden

Project: Art Classes for Lifelong Learners

Exploration and instruction in fine arts with Donna Atwood will explore watercolor, acrylic painting, ink on tile and folk art in 6 classes designed to encourage beginning and experienced artists to gain new skills and create their own artwork. A final art exhibit of finished works by the participants and other community members will be the culmination of the project.

Awarded: $886.95

 

Groton Public Library

Project: STEAM @ GPL

The Groton Public Library will purchase a 3D Printer to expand its capacity for engaging our youth with cutting edge technology. By providing 3D Printer access and instruction to the youth of Groton, these otherwise educationally disadvantaged and geographically isolated youth will be able to broaden their horizons, explore new technology, and imaginatively design projects that they can then print. From an idea in their mind, to a design on the computer, to holding a physical object, the youth will get to experience the entire creative process in a new and engaging way.

Awarded: $2,374.05

 

Phillips Free Library – Homer

Project: Summer Reading on the Road

Summer Reading at the Truxton Community Center brings the Phillips Free Library summer reading program to children of the Truxton community. With regular story times, STEM activities and fun games, learning and reading throughout the summer will be available to children in this rural community within our service area. Phillips Free Library will be working with the Truxton Community Center to make Summer Reading in Truxton possible.

Awarded: $1,200

 

Peck Memorial Library

Project: Libraries Rock 2018

Peck Memorial Library will be having a dynamic summer reading program that includes a variety of programs and activities to engage young and young adult readers. Programs will include Animal Adventure, the Physics Bus, and the Game Truck. The summer reading program is developed to encourage reading during the summer months. We like to expose the children and young adults to a variety of programs.

Awarded: $1,095

 

Tappan-Spaulding Memorial Library – Newark Valley

Project: STEAM NIGHT

STEAM NIGHT is an enrichment program offered by the Tappan-Spaulding Memorial Library to engage children grades 1-4 in activities related to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics). We will offer a monthly program where a STEAM topic will be explored through literature and a hands on activity. We will blend basic principles of science with the creativity of the arts to develop projects that help build problem solving skills, inventive thinking and a desire to read in our local children. We believe that STEAM NIGHT will be both entertaining and educational and will provide our families with a local event that promotes using our library and its many resources.

Awarded: $1,300

 

Edith B. Ford Memorial Library – Ovid

Project: Libraries Speak – Digital & Audiobooks for All

“Libraries Speak” is here to embrace the digital media realm by creating learning paths and providing access to digital media. The project will also help patrons overcome the hurdles of media by providing tools and materials for other speaking book resources in libraries. “Libraries Speak” will be the voice for those who have learned to accept their situations of difficulty, and to hopefully provide easier access to them into this world of reading.

Awarded: $1,800

 

Tompkins County Public Library – Ithaca

Project: Ask a Professional Series

The Tompkins County Public Library, in keeping with its mission to serve the community, will be presenting a series of “Ask a Professional” workshops, aimed at providing digital and information literacy skills to seniors living in Tompkins County. Partnering with the Tompkins County Office for the Aging, the library will host workshops on topics ranging from affordable legal assistance to understanding online medical information, in its new 21st Century Digital Lab. The goal of this program is to provide seniors with the skills necessary to successfully perform information inquiries on their own and to know which professionals to reach out to when questions arise during their research.

Awarded: $1,000

 

Information about the Outreach Mini Grant

The review team is made up of our 7 member Coordinated Outreach Services Advisory Council (COSAC). The role of COSAC is to advise the Finger Lakes Library System’s Outreach Department, assist in the evaluations of its coordinated outreach activities, and to promote collaborative efforts and partnerships. The Council is comprised of a mix of library directors and representatives from local human service agencies and institutions who serve our targeted outreach populations. We are always looking for new members. Please contact Jenny Shonk at jshonk@flls.org for more information on joining the council.

Funding was made possible for these grants through the New York State Library’s Coordinated Outreach Services Program. Under New York State Education Law, §273 (1) (h) (1), and Commissioner’s Regulations §90.3, Public Library Systems provide Coordinated Outreach Library Services directly and through their member libraries to New Yorkers who are most in need and who often are not regular library users. More information about the program can be found at www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/outreach.

 

Congratulations to all recipients!

COSAC looks forward to hearing about the success of your projects and reading next year’s applications!