|
The DeKalb County (Ga.) Public Library's Project Horizons, a program founded in 1989 to serve homeless families, has received the Urban Libraries Council's (ULC) first Award of Excellence. The $500 award will be presented in June during the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Miami Beach, Fla.
"The members of the award committee felt that Project Horizons best exemplified the spirit of the Urban Libraries Council," said award committee chair Paulette Holahan. "Library service in our nation's urban areas, responsive to their needs, was the heart of the reason why the ULC was created. DeKalb has met this standard."
The Award of Excellence recognizes a ULC member library for the creation or adaptation of a service that fills a need of an urban area, can easily be replicated, is not costly and has proven results. Project Horizons met these criteria by providing eight homeless shelters with deposit collections and regular visits from a storyteller, allowing residents access to language skills necessary for school and job success. Four of the shelters also received computer learning labs.
"Since the needs in each shelter vary greatly, not only from shelter to shelter, but from day to day, the services and resources (of Project Horizons) constantly change in order to meet those needs, perhaps providing board books and reading one-on-one to infants at one site, while providing the Babysitters Club and computer classes for teens at the next," said Donna Mancini, DeKalb County Public Library director.
The project has had a positive impact: statistics collected by the project staff reflect a 29 percent increase in children observed reading independently and an 89 percent increase in parents reading aloud. In addition, community support has grown. More than 35 organizations and 50 volunteers donate time and resources to the project. Grant funding has been received from Home Depot, the American Association of University Women, the Nordson Corporation and the U.S. Department of Education.
Applications for the 1994-1995 Award of Excellence now are available. Contact the Urban Libraries Council, 1603 Orrington Ave., Suite 1080, Evanston, IL 60201; (847) 866-9999. |
