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LSTA Award Winners Six applicants were granted LSTA funds during the most recent funding cycle. Here are the winning programs they proposed: Your Story Has a Home Here: Oral Histories of DC Residents Without Homes—This project was proposed by Ande Tensae and Rebecca Renard of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL). The purpose is to bring teens and the homeless together to replace the sometimes hostile “air” between the two with greater mutual understanding. Ten teens, all of whom will be members of DCPL’s Teens of Distinction Program, will conduct oral histories, one-on-one, with 10 homeless people as subjects and photograph them, if that is allowed. Sensitivity training about homelessness and homeless people is built into the proposal. The teens will also be trained in oral history interviewing techniques, portrait photography, audio production, and podcasting. The stories will be edited and posted along with the photos on the Library’s website and Teen Blog, in the Special Collections Division, and as a special display at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. The stories and photos will also be shared during monthly community dialogues in partnership with the National Coalition for the Homeless and other nonprofit organizations. The grant is for $5,639.
Environmental Storytelling—The Tyler Elementary School Library in Southeast DC proposed this project in partnership with Lands and Waters, a not-for-profit organization in Falls Church, VA. Land for Waters is committed to watershed protection, education, and conservation. Tyler Elementary School includes students from preschool through fifth grade, and is located within the Anacostia River watershed. Through a public/private partnership, the school is creating an outdoor classroom that consists of green roofs, rain gardens, and pervious pavement surfaces—a sustainable landscape. Ms. Stewart, President of Lands and Watres, will read stories with environmental themes to each class. She will talk with students and their teachers about simple ways in which people can take responsibility for protecting the environment, and show the techniques as they spend time together in the outdoor classroom. The students will find worms and insects in the soil, watch birds as they come for food and water, and learn to recognize different trees and plants. The project outlines age-appropriate exercises from making suet for birds in winter, to learning how to do library research on topics of interest before writing stories with environmental themes. The grant is for $14,575.
Adult ESL Program—The proposal showed careful planning, with clear evaluation plans and significant contributions to be made by the partners—the Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library and Catholic Charities. The program will provide three 15-week sessions of ESL instruction at Shepherd Park Library for a total of 225 people, 20-25/class. Several methods will be used to ensure success, including the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) to evaluate progress and needs. Students will take a placement test, and develop goals at the outset. A post-test and feedback survey will be conducted at the end of each 15-week session. Catholic Charities will refer some students and conduct all classes. The Library will donate classroom space and produce marketing materials in Spanish, Amharic, and French. The Library will provide library services orientation, library cards, and assist in teaching basic computer skills to students, as needed. The grant is for $18,600.
Book Beat: Bilingual Teens Talk About Books on TV—This project involves a partnership between the Hardy Middle School Library, Roosevelt Senior High School Arts Media and Communications Academy, DC Public School Division of Academic Support Services, District Schools TV, and the DC chapter of the Special Libraries Association. The objective is to encourage middle school students to develop a love of reading and enhance their bilingual verbal skills. The school’s book collection will be increased in quantity and updated through the sub-grant. The 6th through 8th graders will be required to create and perform a bilingual book talk in English and Spanish, French, and other languages as an enhancement to their reading. Book talks will be choreographed, filmed, and edited by students and staff of the Roosevelt Senior High School Arts Media Communications Academy and televised by the District Schools TV Channel in April 2010 during National Library Week. The grant is for $8,985.
Sharing Worlds Family Literacy Project—The partnership in this project is between the Education Strengthens Families (ESF) Public Charter School and the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library. The ESF Public Charter School is located in Ward 1, as is Mt. Pleasant Library, and the school and library already have a very good working relationship and several shared objectives. Ward 1 has the highest concentration of immigrants in the city. The school provides intensive academic and nonacademic support to at-risk children and parents who need the practical tools to boost their children’s education. ESF’s educational program incorporates English language and computer instruction, early childhood education for children 0 to 5, parenting classes, and Parent and Child Together (PACT) Time activities. Children through age 8 participate in the school’s summer program and benefit from their parents’ participation in literacy and parenting classes. The “Sharing Worlds” project will celebrate cultural diversity and promote literacy, reading readiness, and reading skills of young children and parents through puppet shows, story telling, photography, and video and book projects. The grant is for $18,000.
Building Literacy Through Comics—The West End Neighborhood Library in partnership with the School for the Arts in Learning (SAIL) Public Charter School and Big Planet Comics proposed this project. The SAIL Public Charter School provides an arts-infused education for children in grades K-7. The project is directed toward children, ages 8-12, who will have been identified by a standardized test as reading below grade level. They will be enrolled in a weekly workshop co-led by instructors from SAIL and youth services library associates from the West End Library. The workshops will introduce the students to the concept of linking pictures and words. New literacy concepts will be introduced each week and applied to comics of the students’ choosing. As the weeks progress, some sessions will focus on reading and others on writing and drawing original comics. Local comic writers/artists will come to talk about how they create comics. All SAIL teachers will be given the opportunity to participate in professional development in connection with the program. At the end, the comics students have created will be displayed in the gallery at SAIL and at the West End Library. The grant is for $9,200. Click here for an overview of past winning sub-grant proposals
For potential applicants who would like help on filling out the application, there will be a workshop on January 12, 2010, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, in Room 444 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW. To reserve a seat at the workshop, send an e-mail request to lucy.labson@dc.gov. OVERVIEW OF THE LSTA GRANT PROGRAM · What is LSTA? · Who administers the LSTA program? · Who is eligible to receive LSTA grant money? · How much money can an applicant request? · Who decides which grant applications to fund?
HOW MAY LSTA GRANT FUNDS BE USED? · National guidelines · Guidelines in the District of Columbia · Requirements summary
· Key dates · The application (in printable Word format) · Instructions on filling out the application (in printable Word format)
CONTACT INFO FOR LSTA GRANT ADMINISTRATOR
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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC LIBRARY |
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State Library of the District of Columbia |
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LSTA |
