A.K. Smiley Public Library receives grant for Adult Literacy Program
Redlands Daily Facts: 10.02.2015
The California State
Library has awarded A.K. Smiley Public Library $52,000 to
fund staffing for the Redlands Adult Literacy Program for the
fiscal year that began July 1.
The California State Library welcomed A.K.
Smiley Public Library into the California
Library Literacy and English Acquisition Services Program
(CLLS), which includes 102 library jurisdictions throughout the state.
A.K. Smiley Public Library was one of five libraries that were accepted into
CLLS this year.
State Librarian Greg Lucas said Gov. Jerry
Brown and state lawmakers increased funding for literacy because they
recognized the “enormous payoff in human capital that comes from investing in
helping a person improve their reading skills.”
The annual $52,000 grant to A.K. Smiley Public
Library will continue through June 2018, when the annual allotment may be
adjusted based on the state’s literacy services funding formula.
“We are thrilled to receive this grant,” said
Don McCue, director of the A.K. Smiley Public Library.
“It’s the result of diligent efforts by our
literacy tutors and volunteers, particularly Trudy Waldron and Katherine
Gifford, as well as the investment the Redlands City Council made in the
program last year by funding the hiring of part-time adult literacy coordinator
Dottie Podolak. Without that position, we would not have been eligible to apply
for the grant,” McCue said. READ MORE !
