ALA announces applications for third year of the Building Library Capacity Grants

CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) announces the opening of the third year of the ALA Building Library Capacity Grants that will provide grants to public libraries assisting New Americans (immigrants and refugees).

Up to sixteen $10,000 grants will be awarded to successful applicants nationwide. The application site is open now. The application deadline is April 9, 2025, with awards announced on June 3, 2025.

Information on the grant can be found at the Building Library Capacity Grant website. There will be a webinar information session on Monday, March 10 at 3 p.m. Central Time. Registration is required and the session will be recorded.

Since their inception public libraries in the United States have provided resources and education for New Americans (immigrants and refugees.) Public libraries empower New Americans through English language lessons, workforce skill development classes, civics and citizenship sessions, books and information resources in various languages of their community, and much more.

Andrew Carnegie, steel magnate and philanthropist who funded the construction of over 1,500 public libraries in urban and rural libraries across the country, said, “There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.”

The grants are to bolster library operations and services including literacy and other skill development, developing collections, staffing, expanding outreach, as well as maintaining and amplifying existing service strategies or adding new ones to make an impact.

The ALA Building Library Capacity Grants are supported through a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each year focuses on helping add capacity to different segments of the library community.

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 145 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library's role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org

About the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.