Newswise — Applications are now being accepted for the national Better World Books/National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) Libraries and Families Award.
Each year, three winning libraries are awarded $10,000 in grants to recognize their exceptional family literacy programming.
“We’re looking for passionate libraries with great approaches and big ideas for serving families,” said John Ujda, vice president of marketing for Better World Books. “We love libraries for the critical role they play in our communities.
The grants will fund innovative programs that enable libraries to promote family learning.
“We also will use the awards to help libraries spread the word about the important impact they have on families and communities.”
Existing library-based literacy programs serving families as well as start-up programs will be eligible.
Funding comes from Better World Books’ Libraries Discards & Donations program, a free service that helps libraries manage their unwanted books. Better World Books sells those books online, sharing the revenues with the libraries and one of its nonprofit literacy programs. Since the inception of the BWB/NCFL library fund, 1,304 libraries across the United States have shipped 4.4 million books to be sold online to generate funding for libraries and their literacy partner, NCFL.
The specific award criteria and application are available online at http://www.famlit.org/award-grant-opportunities/libraries-and-families-award/2012-app. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 6.
In addition to the $10,000 grant, award recipients will receive scholarships to attend the National Conference on Family Literacy from March 25 to March 27 in San Diego.
“Libraries provide families with important access to reading and technology,” said Emily Kirkpatrick, NCFL vice president. “This award continues to promote, reward and expand the innovative programming that is fundamental to success for our families and communities.”
This will be the third year of the award and the latest partnership effort between the two organizations, which together have raised more than $816,000 for NCFL’s programming since 2005.
Hundreds of thousands of books have been donated and sold to support family literacy since the partnership began. Books come from college campus book drives, library discards and donations, and corporate book drives.
ABOUT NCFLThe National Center for Family Literacy is the worldwide leader in family literacy. More than 1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. For more information, visit www.famlit.org.
ABOUT BETTER WORLD BOOKSBetter World Books (www.BetterWorldBooks.com) is a for-profit social enterprise that collects and sells books online, matching each purchase with a donation, book for book, and with each sale generating funds for literacy initiatives. Better World Books diverts books from landfills by conducting book drives on thousands of college campuses and libraries. Since its founding in 2003, the Atlanta, GA-based company has raised over $10 million for libraries and literacy, donated over 5 million books; re-used or recycled over 80 million books and achieved 25,000 tons of carbon offsets through carbon balanced shipping.
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