ALSC is accepting proposals for the 2016 Building STEAM with Día mini-grants. To launch the yearlong celebration of Día turning 20, ALSC will award up to ten (10) libraries $2,000 each to implement a Building STEAM with Día program in their community. The project year for this grant is January 2016 through May 2016. This mini-grant opportunity is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation through the Everyone Reads @ your library grant awarded to ALSC. For more information and to apply for the mini-grant, please visit http://www.ala.org/alsc/diaturns20.
ALSC President Andrew Medlar can attest to the importance of a culturally inclusive approach to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) programming, so he is “excited that ALSC is able to provide a second round of funding that will help libraries incorporate diversity into their STEAM efforts.”
Celebrating Día
The Building STEAM with Día program is part of the El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) initiative, commonly known as Día. This nationally recognized initiative emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds, and 2016 marks the 20th year of its observance. Día is a daily commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. This is the first of two funding opportunities that ALSC will offer this year to help libraries celebrate Día all year. ALSC also manages the National Día Program Registry to help libraries and community partners share information about their Día programs throughout the year.
The common goals of all Día programming are to: celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries; recognize and respect culture, heritage and language as powerful tools for strengthening families and communities; nurture cognitive and literacy development in ways that honor and embrace a child’s home language and culture; and to introduce families to community resources that provide opportunities for learning through multiple literacies. For more information, visit http://dia.ala.org/.
Image courtesy of ALSC
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