PPO, LEH announce new grants for PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME®

Contact: Angela Thullen


Program Officer, Communications


                                                                                                                                 312-280-5286

For Immediate Release


April 8, 2010

Applications now accepted from library systems as well as state-level organizations

CHICAGO - Applications are currently available for PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME®, an award-winning reading, discussion and storytelling series offered by PRIME TIME FAMILY READING, Inc., an affiliate of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH), in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Statewide organizations, including state libraries, state humanities councils, centers for the book and library associations, as well as library systems outside Louisiana, are invited to apply. Proposals in response to this opportunity will be accepted through an online process. Links to the proposal guidelines and online application site are accessible from
www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org and
www.leh.org/html/primetime_neh_expansion.html.
The receipt deadline for applications is Friday, May 28, 2010.

Based on illustrated children's books, PRIME TIME —now in its 19th year—is designed to help low-income, low-literate families bond around the act of reading and talking about books. It models and encourages family reading and discussion of humanities topics and aids parents and children in selecting books and becoming active public library users. PRIME TIME received the 2003
Advancement of Literacy Award from the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the ALA, and the
Coming Up Taller Award from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in 2000. Nearly 1,000 PRIME TIME programs in 38 states have been completed, graduating more than 36,000 children and their parents/guardians.

This year, PRIME TIME will add up to 16 sites to its national roster by working with four state-level organizations and/or library systems to present PRIME TIME at four libraries in each state/system.Â
Common Ground, PRIME TIME’s newest syllabus, offers a proven vehicle for libraries to engage a multicultural audience that includes non-English speakers. Applications that provide plans for multicultural or bilingual programming will be given preference. Previous PRIME TIME award recipients are eligible to apply.

Selected states and systems will receive grant funding and materials to work with library staff to present the PRIME TIME series at participating library sites. Each series will meet once a week for six weeks at participating libraries. Through a discussion leader and a storyteller, children ages 6 to 10 years and their parents or guardians will hear classic children's stories; watch reading aloud demonstrations; discuss humanities themes in each book; and learn about library resources and services. Younger siblings, ages 3 to 5 years, will participate in separate pre-reading activities.

A state or system project director will work with local project teams to present the series. Each local project team will consist of a library coordinator, a humanities scholar, a storyteller, a community organizer/translator and pre-school coordinator to present the activities for younger siblings.

Selected states / systems will receive:

• Travel, lodging and most meals to attend a mandatory meeting of state/system project directors in New Orleans on July 22, 2010.
• Travel, lodging and most meals to attend the mandatory training workshop in New Orleans July 23-25, 2010 for the state/system project directors, as well as their team of local library coordinators, community organizers/translators, scholars, and storytellers.
• Twenty-five sets of reusable books and book bags.
• Stipends for each site’s scholar, storyteller, community organizer/translator and preschool coordinator (maximum of $2,300 per site).
• Stipends for participant transportation (maximum of $600 per site)
• Gift books and certificates of completion for participants.
• Extensive training and promotional materials that support PRIME TIME programming.

Libraries interested in participating in PRIME TIME are encouraged to contact their state library, humanities council, center for the book, library association or system headquarters to initiate an application. Complete information about PRIME TIME is available online at
www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org or
www.leh.org.

PRIME TIME is based on a successful series of the same name that was created by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in 1991 at the East Baton Rouge (La.) Parish Library and has spread nationally with funding from NEH.

The ALA Public Programs Office promotes cultural and community programming as an essential part of library service in all types and sizes of libraries. Successful library programming initiatives have included “Let’s Talk About It” reading and discussion series, traveling exhibitions, film discussion programs, the Great Stories CLUB, Live! @ your library and more. Recently, the ALA Public Programs Office developed
www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org, an online resource center bringing librarians timely and valuable information to support them in the creation of high-quality cultural programs for their communities. For more information on the ALA Public Programs Office, visit
www.ala.org/publicprograms.Â

For more information and to download an application, visit
www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org or
www.leh.org. Questions about the grant should be directed to Miranda Restovic, LEH, at
restovic@leh.org or Angela Thullen, ALA Public Programs Office, at
athullen@ala.org.