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Urban Libraries Council (ULC) has been awarded a $285,000 one-year grant to provide technical support to and coordination of the planning process for the first phase of the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund’s Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development Initiative.
“We are delighted to be a major part of this visionary effort to reinvent youth services,” said Joey Rodger, President, ULC. “The DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund is giving ULC and the ten libraries selected for this first phase of the initiative a rare gift – that of time and money for reflection, planning, and collaboration.”
Ten public library systems have been selected by the Fund to receive up to $30,000 each to support a planning process designed to set the stage for strengthening educational and career development programs for low-income school-age youth. At the conclusion of the planning process, those library systems will be invited to submit implementation proposals to the Fund, estimated at approximately $500,000 over a three-year period.
The ten public library systems chosen to participate in this first phase are: Brooklyn Public Library (NY), the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (NC), Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore, MD), Fort Bend County Libraries (Richmond, TX), the Free Library of Philadelphia (PA), King County Library System (WA), Oakland Public Library (CA), San Antonio Public Library (TX), Tucson-Pima Public Library (AZ), and Washoe County Library System (NV).
ULC’s role during the planning process will be to provide needed technical assistance and capacity development for the ten public library systems, as well as coordination of the entire planning process. Additionally, ULC will engage in its own planning process for continuing service as an intermediary organization during the initiative’s implementation stage.
Elizabeth Hanson McChesney is joining ULC as the Project Director for the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development Initiative. Most recently the head of the children’s department of the Uptown Branch of the Chicago Public Library, Ms. McChesney brings a wealth of experience with successful community collaborations serving children and youth. As a coordinator of the “Blue Skies for Library Kids” grant at the Chicago Public Library, as well as numerous other grant-funded programs, she has worked with such varied partners as the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. Marine Corps, and local community organizations. Ms. McChesney holds an M.L.S. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Founded in 1971, the Urban Libraries Council offers advocacy, consulting, research, training and support services to its members. Membership is open to libraries serving populations of 50,000 or more in U.S. Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas and to library vendors.
The mission of the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund is to foster fundamental improvement in the quality of educational and career development opportunities for all school-age youth, and to increase access to these improved services for young people in low-income communities. |
