Inspire Special Events Grant

Sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) a division of the American Library
Association (ALA) and Marina "Marney" Welmers.

Overview

Through the generous donation of Marina “Marney” Welmers, an AASL member and retired
middle school librarian, AASL is pleased to offer the Inspire Special Event Grant. The grant
opportunity supports a special event so that an existing public middle or high school library can
create new or enhance its extracurricular activities in order to increase student academic
achievement at their school. The goal is to provide direct assistance funding to middle or high
school libraries for special short-term projects or events that would create new or enhance
educational activities in order to engage students with and in the library and to promote reading,
books, literacy and authors.

The fund is $10,000 per annum. The direct assistance is capped at $2,000 per grant.

Eligibility

1. The applicant must be a publicly funded middle or high school, grades 5-12, and have an
existing campus library. Each library, regardless of the variety of constituents it may serve,
is limited to submission of one application.

2. The grant is awarded to individual schools, not to districts; all schools in a given district are
welcome to apply if they meet the criteria, but each school must submit an application that is
specific to their needs.

3. Private, parochial, independent, and home schools are not eligible. Charter schools can
apply if they are publicly funded.

4. The public middle or high school library must be located in the United States, with one staff
position being held by a certified school librarian.

5. If the school does not have a certified school librarian on campus staff, the applicant can still
apply if there is a certified school librarian available at the district or regional level who will
work with the school on the selection of materials to be purchased. Regional level may
include service centers or equivalent, university faculty, or staff of neighboring school
districts.

6. The school and/or the certified school librarian do not have to be a member of ALA, AASL,
or any other ALA division to apply; however, the jury may take membership into
consideration when determining grant awards.
 7. Schools that have 85% or more of its student population qualified for Free Reduced Lunch
(FRL) program should include this information in their application to receive additional
consideration by the Jury.

8. The Jury may take the school’s geographic location into consideration when determining
grant awards.

9. Funds can be used to fund author visits, special events, contests, Book Clubs, Summer
Reading programs, displays, etc. that engage middle or high school students with and in the
library.

10. Institutions represented by Inspire Special Event Jury can be eligible to apply, but
committee members must recuse themselves from the discussion and voting or decline if
they have a conflict of interest.

11. The school library must be a first-time recipient of the Inspire Special Event Grant.  All
previous recipients are ineligible to apply.

12. The recipient must agree to deliver a final report within twelve months of receipt of the
grant money. If photographs or images are part of the report, the school must include digital
copies (300 dpi images or higher) of all release-signed photographs. These reports can be
posted, with permission of the recipient, to the AASL website, and to any other ALA
website/webpage or ALA publication as requested by ALA.

Criteria

The Inspire Special Event Grant Jury will evaluate the applicant based on the following criteria:

1. The quality of the benefits this grant will bring to the community.
2. A project plan that includes a timeline, budget, and clarity of purpose.
3. Rankings based on a rubric that correlates with the ratings sheet.

Deadline
APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA ONLINE APPLICATION BY FEBRUARY
1
ALL APPLICATIONS WILL CLOSE AT 4:30 CST ON THE DAY OF THE DEADLINE.
*Please note: This downloadable version is for informational purposes only. All applications must be
submitted online, via the Apply Now button at the top of the award’s page
(http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/inspire/event).
AASL Inspire Special Event Grant Application
Name: Danielle Maynard

Title: Media Specialist

Preferred Phone:_________________ Preferred Email Address:______________________________

ALA/AASL ID:

School Name: Lucy Craft Laney High School

School Address: 1339 Laney Walker Blvd.__________________________

City Augusta____________________ State GA_______ Zip 30901________________

Please attach the following:

The application includes a two-page narrative that allows the applicant to describe their need and how they
will use the funds. The following documentation is required with the two-page narrative: a project plan that
includes a timeline, the number of students the grant will reach, a list of key staff involved in the grant plus a
short biography of each, and an itemized budget.
 Lucy Craft Laney High School is a historically black high school found by Ms. Lucy Craft

Laney in 1883. This high school is in one of the poorest areas in downtown Augusta, GA. There

are 652 students at Laney which makes it the smallest schools in Richmond county. The population

for Laney is 95% black, 2% Hispanic and 2% white. Laney is predominately female with 52%

female and 48% male. The percentage of students that are eligible for the Free Lunch program are

96%. For the Reading Proficiency Distribution, only 17% of Laney’s students are Proficient

Learners while 45% of students are developing learners and 36% are Beginning Learners. This

district average for proficiency in reading for Richmond county is 35%, while the state average is

40%.

From the numbers above, it is very apparent that Lucy Craft Laney High School needs help

when it comes to reading. Jessica Hill, the current media specialist, tries to combat this problem in

many ways. However, the students do not like to check out books at their media center because they

do not want to take responsibility for what they check out. They do not want the chance of losing a

book and having to pay for it at the end of the year, nor do they want it to hold up their ability to

graduate on time. Jessica has only been able to get the students to read by giving books away that

they can take home and can keep. She has done this with the book The Hate U Give, to great

success. She even ran out of the books she had and resorted to reading the book during lunch so that

everyone in the school could hear the story. It is important to give these students books that they

want to read, and they want to read books about their own struggles. They want to see themselves in

books. Jessica has done events with Banned Book Week before. She presents different speeches and

scenarios over the morning announcements to get the students interested in Banned Book Week.

During the week, she has the banned books set up on a table with caution tape wrapped around
them. This draws the students in because they see the caution tape and immediately get curious.

When Jessica tells them that they cannot read these books, their curiosity peaks. The students are

very interested because they like to think that by reading these books, they are fighting against the

oppression that they see and feel every day.

What I want to propose is something similar but on a larger scale. What I want to do is buy a

large variety of books for Banned Books Week. The books I would like to get for Banned Books

Week are George by Alex Gino, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin,

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg, Prince

& Knight by Daniel Haack, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Drama by Raina Telgemeier, And

Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by

Maya Angelou, and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. These novels deal with a lot of social issues

that I believe would benefit the students more by reading them in a school setting. Promoting

Banned Books week will help get the students talking about social issues in a safe space where they

feel free to voice their own opinions without judgement or repercussions from the outside word, and

it helps bring light to the importance censorship plays in our society. I want to also leave room for

promotional materials such as posters and displays. I also want students to be encouraged to make a

poster about their book whether it be in the form of an advertisement or a review. I want to do this

because I think it is important for the students to hear from each other how they perceive reading.

Students know how to communicate to one another, and will be more likely to participate in

activities if other students approve of it.

I believe that this would be beneficial to Laney because it takes away that restriction of

having to return a book to the library, and not being able to graduate or having to pay a fee. They
can feel free to take the book home or bring it back if they would like to donate it to someone else

when they are finished.

 Project Plan

Banned Books week is usually in late September or early October. Therefore, the books

would need to be purchased at the beginning of the school year at the latest.

August 2021

 Buy Books for Banned Books Week

Beginning of September

 Put up posters to promote Banned Books Week

 Promote Banned Books week on morning announcements.

 Give out books to a few students and have them make a poster for the book they chose to put

up around the school.

Week Before Banned Books Week

 Start to put up displays to stir the curiosity in the students.

Day 1 of BBW

 Promote day 1 of Banned Books Week on morning announcements.

 Distribute books to students

Day 2 of BBW

 Keep promoting BBW on morning announcements and distributing books.

Day 3 of BBW

 Keep promoting BBW on morning announcements and distributing books.

 Have a presentation in the Media Center about the history of BBW and on censorship.

Day 4 of BBW

 Keep promoting BBW on morning announcements and distributing books.

  Read an excerpt from one of the banned books during lunch to help promote.

Day 5 of BBW

 Present last morning announcement

 Encourage students to challenge censorship and to be free thinkers

 Have other students put up posters around the media center promoting books and reading.

Reach

While I will only be able to give about 120 books away, the event itself should reach the whole

school.

Key Staff

Jessica Hill, current Media Specialist a Laney High School.

Jessica has been the media specialist at Laney High School for 6 years. She has a Bachelor’s

degree in Business Management and a Masters Degree in Education. Jessica does a lot of

collaborative planning with the other teacher in the school. She is a huge supporter of Banned

Books Week and enjoys it when she can get the student to participate in her activities.
Itemized Budget

Books Number of Books Cost per book Cost

George by Alex Gino 10 $ 7.07 $ 70.70
Beyond Magenta:
Transgender Teens Speak 10 $ 11.37 $ 113.70
Out by Susan Kuklin
A Day in the Life of Marlon
5 $ 16.53 $ 82.65
Bundo by Jill Twiss
Sex is a Funny Word by
10 $ 20.80 $ 208.00
Cory Silverberg
Prince & Knight by Daniel
10 $ 15.67 $ 156.70
Haack
The Color Purple by Alice
20 $ 14.82 $ 296.40
Walker
Drama by Raina Telgemeier 10 $ 16.66 $ 166.60
And Tango Makes Three by
Peter Parnell and Justin 5 $ 15.67 $ 78.35
Richardson
I Know Why the Caged Bird
20 $ 15.68 $ 313.60
Sings by Maya Angelou
The Bluest Eye by Toni
20 $ 13.06 $ 261.20
Morrison

Total for books $ 1,747.90

Poster 10 pack (100)- $50.82

Markers 200 in box – $62.29

Color Pencils 100 pack (2) - $26.98

Banner Paper 2 pack – $33.69

Paint - $ 55.89

Paint brushes – $20.89

Total: $1998.46