In September, the library was awarded a $20,000 Science Education grant from MilliporeSigma to support its 2022 STEAM Learning program. This is the fourth year that the library has received financial support from MilliporeSigma to support its science programs for all ages, with a special focus on STEAM activities for youth. (STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.) In addition to professional in-person and online programs, the grant will support the library’s Self-Directed Learning Stations and STEAM kits for checkout and provide employment for local teens as STEAM assistants for library activities.
In addition, the Jaffrey Public Library has been awarded a $4,800 New Hampshire Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan grant to be used toward the library’s “Gather Around” virtual book discussion program for adults. The new monthly program will feature a different humanities discipline — history, literature, philosophy, ethics, archeology, anthropology, linguistics, geography, the law or legal theory, classics and cultural or religious studies — each month. Participants will “gather around” a shared book in a Zoom discussion facilitated by a humanities expert. The grant will provide the funding for professional facilitators, along with books for the attendees to keep and supplemental titles for the library’s collection, and cover the cost of the library’s Zoom license. SHARP grants are made possible through the National Endowment for the Humanities and the 2021 American Rescue plan, to help organizations “prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from the coronavirus” pandemic.
“We are so grateful for this financial support,” library director Julie Perrin stated. “Our municipal budget provides for our collection, our building and our staff, but the programs we offer depend almost entirely on donor and grant support. To know that we have major grants that target programs for multiple age groups as we go into 2022 is truly wonderful news.”
For information, please contact the library at 532-7301.