Cognotes 2018 Annual Conference Highlights - 14

COGNOTES

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2018 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS

AASL Beyond Words and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Award $100,000 in Grants to Two Houston Schools
Two Houston schools extensively damaged by Hurricane Harvey are the recipients
of the 2018 catastrophic disaster relief grants
offered as part of the American Association
of School Librarians' (AASL) Beyond Words:
The Dollar General School Library Relief
Fund. Thompson Intermediate School and
Moore Elementary School both suffered
devastating losses to the school libraries in
the hurricane and its aftermath.
Flood waters entered Thompson Intermediate School late Saturday, August 26, 2017, and
the school library received six inches of water
damaging books, flooring, and furniture. Due
to roads blocked by high water, the school
building remained inaccessible until Wednesday, August 30. Thompson's entire nonfiction
collection, located on the bottom shelves, sat
submerged in water and all 10,772 books in
the school's collection were exposed to high humidity and mold during this extended period.
Out of caution, district leadership declared the
entire collection unfit for student use.
At Moore Elementary School, overflowing water from the nearby creek inundated
the campus. The building took in 2.5 feet
of flood water, contaminants, and sewage,
destroying the school's interior and contents.
Like at Thompson School, workers were unable to start rescue operations for several days
and the delay caused wet items to become

Hurricane Harvey caused devastating losses to Houston school libraries in August 2017.

waterlogged and items above the waterline
to develop an active mold infestation. Along
with the 20,000 books in the library's collection, other media, technology, equipment,
and fixtures were destroyed or contaminated
to the extent of being unsalvageable. The
school library was declared a total loss.
"Again last year, catastrophic storms
devastated communities in our country,"
said Jennisen Lucas, chair of the grant jury.
"Families lost their belongings, their homes,
and their schools. When whole schools are

displaced and whole library collections are
destroyed, the loss felt can be profound,
especially for those students who turn to
the library as their safe places. The recipients
of this year's catastrophic grants are already
working tirelessly to build back up that sense
of safety that their libraries provide, and the
money from these grants will alleviate some
of the stress of starting over."
Since 2006, the Beyond Words grant
program has provided relief to public school
libraries nationwide that have suffered ma-

terials losses because of major disasters such
as hurricanes, tornadoes, flood, earthquakes,
fires, or an act recognized by the federal
government as terrorism.
"During times of devastation like Hurricane Harvey, the impact is magnified when
students and teachers do not have access to
their school libraries," said AASL President Steven Yates. "I remain in awe of the unwavering
commitment of the Dollar General Literacy
Foundation to provide the critical resources
needed to respond in times of disaster."

American Dream Literacy Initiative Celebrates a Decade of Influence
by Kate Sanders, University of Oklahoma

"No one should have to go without the
basics of life," said Denine Torr, head of the
Dollar General Literacy Foundation, quoting J.L. Turner, the company's founder. For
the literacy foundation, its partners, and grant
recipients, the basics of life include literacy
and access to quality literacy instruction.
They believe that everyone should have "access to empower themselves, lift themselves
up," said Torr, addressing the audience who

came to hear the published results of 10 years
of work. She explained that the original role
of libraries was to help fulfill the American
Dream - giving everyone, regardless of their
station, regardless of the color of their skin,
or gender, access to information that could
transform their lives.
To date, the program (partnered with the
ALA office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) has awarded 214 grants to libraries
across the country, totaling more than $1.5
million. Recipient libraries use those funds in

a variety of ways to support literacy instruction and English Language Learning (ELL).
Librarians from two recipient libraries
came to ALA to share the impact the grants
have had in their communities.
Jessi Suire, public relations and adult services coordinator for the Terrebonne Parish
Library in Louisiana, was eager to share the
good that the grants have done for the Terrebonne Parish system. The system supports
nine libraries serving a large Hispanic population. Through Conectando, an umbrella of

Michelle Obama on Her Story and Her Book, Becoming

bilingual literacy programs, they have used
the grants for parts of their service area that
were previously lacking resources, thereby
strengthening the connection between the
library and community. The programs offered with ADLI funding include Historia
Para Todos, a twice-monthly bilingual book
club focusing on the works of Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, and Tiempo de Cuentos, bilingual
storytime.
Ari Baker, Blount County Public Library,
Maryville, Tenn., is the instructional librarian working primarily in developing public
classes for workforce development and ELL.
Partnerships are emphasized, such as working
alongside the county recovery court to teach
life skills and soft skills to formerly incarcerated persons.
Kristin LaHurd, assistant director for
literacy and continuing education for the
ALA Office of Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services, shared some of the statistical
results of the 10 years of the American Dream
Literacy Initiative. "Eighty-seven percent of
libraries report the grant helped patrons access print and digital resources. Nearly 15,000
students across the nation have participated
in ESL classes. More than 65% of libraries
reported that the funding improved connections with community partners and other
libraries," said LaHurd. She emphasized the
important roles community partnerships play
in creating sustainable programming and outreach. "Grantees that developed partnerships
were seven times more likely to have sustained
their ELL services."
Information about the American Dream
Literacy Initiative and how to apply for the
grants can be found at https://apply.ala.org/
americandream2018/.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cognotes 2018 Annual Conference Highlights