Osawatomie Public Library Receives Grant Award

The Osawatomie Public Library is celebrating another community-oriented grant award! Dr. Morgan Menefee, Director of the Osawatomie Public Library, is pleased to announce that the Library has been awarded $16,850 toward digital equity programming from the Kansas City Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.

The KC Regional COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, a program administered by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), put out a call for organizations to apply for funds to help them improve digital equity in their communities. The Response and Recovery Fund aims to provide support to facilities or organizations that help low-to-moderate income
households enroll in the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The Fund also helps organizations provide devices, internet connectivity, technology training, and troubleshooting.

Dr. Menefee viewed the grant program as an opportunity to expand the library’s services to better serve the citizens of Osawatomie and surrounding area who use the library as their primary source of Internet and technology access. Her application advocated for funding that would allow library clerks to work additional hours to provide troubleshooting for patron devices, offer specific technology or digital literacy
courses, and assist patrons who wish to apply for the ACP. Additionally, she requested funding to replace four functionally obsolete public access computers and for one year of service for the WiFi hotspots that the library offers as checkout material, all of which have increased in use and popularity over the past two months.

City officials and the Library’s Board of Trustees are excited to see these digital equity and literacy programs come to life over the next several weeks and are proud of the consistently high-level of work accomplished by the Library and its staff.

For more information on the grant or its supporting agencies, please visit the Greater Kansas Community Foundation at www.growyourgiving.org.

The Osawatomie Public Library was awarded its full request amount of $16,850 to improve digital equity in our community.
 

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