Library Services for Incarcerated Youth
Grants!
Below is a short list of grants that address struggling readers, disadvantaged, and underserved youth. This is not an exhaustive list of grants and is meant to provide a few examples of the types of grants to which you might apply.
ALA's Innovative Reading Grant- This grant "Supports the planning and implementation of a unique and innovative program for children which motivates and encourages reading, especially with struggling readers."
Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Summer Reading Grants- "Dollar General Literacy Foundation Summer Reading Grants provide funding to local nonprofit organizations and libraries to help with the implementation or expansion of summer reading programs. Programs must target Pre-K through 12th grade students who are new readers, below grade level readers or readers with learning disabilities"
Youth Literacy Grants "Dollar General Literacy Foundation Youth Literacy Grants provide funding to schools, public libraries, and nonprofit organizations to help students who are below grade level or experiencing difficulty reading."
National Center for Family Literacy- NCFL focuses on "educational and economic progress by pioneering – and continuously improving – family literacy programs." They feature various funding opportunities on their "Awards and Grants Opportunities" page. These grants often focus on disadvantaged and underserved youth.
YALSA's Books For Teens Grant- "Books for Teens’ mission is to empower the nation’s at-risk teens to achieve more by providing them with free high quality, new, age-appropriate books. Funds raised through Books for Teens will be distributed to institutions in communities with a high level of poverty, where librarians and library workers will purchase and distribute new books, encourage teens to get library cards and provide teens with reading-focused events and activities."
YALSA's Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults-
"YALSA will select up to twenty-five innovative teen programs from all types of libraries to feature at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference and to include in a sixth edition of Excellence in Library Service to Young Adults. Successful applications will focus on programs that address new teen needs or interests, or that address ongoing teen needs or interests in an innovative or unique way. The top five programs will receive cash awards of $1000 each. Up to twenty “best of the rest” programs will receive cash awards of $250. Each award will be presented to the applicant's institution for use with future teen programs and/or for the applicant’s travel to the 2013 conference to participate in the YALSA President’s Program."
For more grant ideas, check out Scholastic's Library Grant page.
