Waterloo Times

Hawkeye Community College recently issued the following announcement.

The Hawkeye Community College Library has been selected as one of 200 libraries nationwide for the American Library Association’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries opportunity, an emergency relief program to assist libraries that have been adversely affected by the pandemic.

With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Hawkeye will use funds to anchor itself in the community as a strong humanities institution. The competitive award comes with a $10,000 grant that will help the library deliver excellent programs and services related to culture, history, literature, and other humanities subjects. More than 370 libraries applied for the grant, according to ALA. View the full list of selected libraries.

The participating libraries, selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed application process, include public libraries, academic/college libraries, K-12 libraries, and tribal, special and prison libraries. The recipients represent 45 states and Puerto Rico and serve communities ranging in size from 642 residents in Weir, Kansas, to the city of Los Angeles. Libraries were chosen with an emphasis on reaching historically underserved and/or rural communities.

"It is gratifying to be offered this opportunity to bring meaningful humanities programming back to our campus,” said Candace Havely, Hawkeye’s director of library services. “This grant will allow our library to provide enriching and edifying experiences to our students and the local community through poetry, film and books.”

The Hawkeye Library will use the grant funds to license a collection of audiobooks to support the Hawkeye Reads program and present poetry slams and pop-up poetry stations throughout the main campus and Hawkeye's Van G. Miller Adult Learning Center during National Poetry Month in April. In addition, Hawkeye is partnering with University of Northern Iowa associate professor Francesca Soans to host a screening of “Getting That Note Out” on Friday, April 29, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. The short film celebrates the talents of Waterloo's own local blues legend, Etheleen Morehead Wright. Admission is free and open to the public. To learn more about Hawkeye Library’s plans for the grant, please visit www.hawkeyecollege.edu/library-grant.

“Libraries have faced significant hardships throughout the pandemic —from budget cuts to staff furloughs to building closures — especially in our communities of the greatest need,” said ALA President Patty Wong. “This crucial support from NEH will enable our beloved institutions, and the dedicated people who run them, to rebuild and emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.”

American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.”

Original source can be found here.