Blatant Berry: Support the CCF Now!
Public programs are a great library advocacy tool
By John N. Berry III, Editor-in-Chief -- Library Journal, 08/15/2005
It has more impact and does more good for library users than all but a few American Library Association (ALA) activities. It is one of ALA's great unsung success stories and doesn't cost ALA a penny. It is the ALA Public Programs Office (PPO), of course. Raising funds to support itself for years and in the process making a substantial contribution to ALA overhead, it now needs our help.
PPO has delivered programs to some 8000 libraries nationwide through grants it earned from such distinguished sources as the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Wallace Foundation. Over its short history, PPO has raised about $10 million, which it has invested in an array of programs that have truly strengthened the position of public libraries all over the country. Those programs have brought more than ten million people into our facilities—most of whom were new to the institution—who now are library users and supporters.
For example, through the well-known "Writers Live at the Library" program, authors came to tiny rural libraries and inner-city branches, activities neither type of library could afford and which both used to build strong connections to their users and communities. As one librarian said after an event at her library, "We got huge support from these programs. We're now a player in the arts and culture community here."
Recognizing the value of public programs in libraries, and particularly the PPO effort, ALA leaders decided they should do something to strengthen and stabilize the office's funding base. In 2003, the Cultural Communities Fund (CCF) was established to build an endowment to support PPO. A year later, the Public and Cultural Programs Advisory Committee (PCPAC) was born. Current PCPAC chair Deborah Jacobs, of the Seattle Public Library, reported to ALA Council that the NEH, recognizing the merit and need for CCF, awarded the fund a three-to-one matching grant of $350,000. To receive all the money, PCPAC and ALA must raise $1,050,000 by 2007. This year, by September 15 (a deadline extended from July 31), ALA must certify that it has raised $377,320—it has already raised $110,716. That means that in the month after this column appears, ALA must raise an additional $266,604. In 2006, an additional $750,000 must be garnered to earn the money. This is a tough challenge, but it is crucial for ALA to meet it, as Jacobs pointed out in her report and in a chat with LJ. "The public programs PPO brings to every kind of library are one of our most useful public advocacy tools," she said. "We reach people with public programs we don't reach any other way."
ALA has never had an NEH challenge grant before. If it fails to meet the requirements, according to Jacobs, ALA may never have the opportunity again. NEH and most other funders watch these grants to see which groups have success and are worthy of future funding situations.
I'm going to click on www.ala.org/ccf and make an online contribution to the Cultural Communities Fund. I hope you will do the same.
