Grants for Family Reading and Discussion Programs

2012 Application Deadline:

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The New York Council for the Humanities awards Grants for Family Reading and Discussion (Family R&D) Programs of up to $1000 to support reading and discussion programs for parents and their 9-to-11 year old children. Grants for Family R&D Programs are intended for libraries that have previously hosted Together—Book Talk for Kids and Parents or Unidos —Charlas de libros para niños y padres. Family R&D Programs help them continue the success of their Together or Unidos series by involving kids and parents in ongoing discussion books and ideas.

Family R&D Programs should include at least four 90-minute sessions devoted to at least four books. The participants should be children between the ages of 9 and 11 and their parents or primary caregivers. Like Together and Unidos, sessions should be led by a librarian co-facilitator and a scholar co-facilitator from the local community, and based on the discussion of themes, or “big ideas,” found in the books. You may divide the sessions between two or three related themes or have all sessions focused on one theme. For more information, please read How should we identify a Family R&D Program theme or themes? in Common Questions. Once you have identified a theme or themes, you can then choose the books you would like to discuss and the number of sessions you would like to co-facilitate.

This year, the Council has worked with humanities scholars to create Family R&D Program themed book lists for libraries looking to address themes through a specific topic. Libraries can choose to use any combination of books on the list. Current topics include: the Civil War and Native American literature. See Themed Book Lists for more information.

Before applying for a Family R&D Program, be sure to read Applying for a Grant for Family Reading and Discussion Programs in Common Questions. The application requires you to submit the resume of your proposed scholar co-facilitator, the syllabus of books you plan to use, and a budget for your proposed program. If your scholar has not yet co-facilitated a Together series, please include a letter of commitment from them in your application. All applicants are encouraged to contact Program Officer Erika Halstead at ehalstead@nyhumanities.org or 212.233.1131 x27 with any questions.

How to apply for Grants for Family Reading and Discussion Programs

Identify themes for your program. The discussion of themes, or “big ideas,” should be the basis of your Family R&D Program. You may divide the sessions between two or three related themes or have all sessions focused on one theme. For more information, please read How should we identify a Family R&D Program theme or themes? in Common Questions.

Develop a syllabus. Your syllabus should include at least four books that you plan to discuss in your Family R&D Program. Each book on your syllabus should address the theme or themes of your program, and all should be at a reading level appropriate for 9- to 11-year-olds. You may also use books from the Council's Themed Book Lists. For more information, please read Are there criteria for selecting the books? in Common Questions.

Find a humanities scholar who is willing to serve as co-facilitator for all sessions. Libraries are responsible for identifying a humanities scholar (or graduate student) to co-facilitate the discussions with a librarian. For more information, see The Host Site and Co-Facilitators in Common Questions.

Apply to the Council. Develop a budget for your Family R&D Program and complete the budget form and online application. The application deadline for Grants for Family R&D Programs is November 15. You will hear back from the Council by December 15.

Promote and host your Family R&D Program. You should plan to recruit between 8 and 15 families to participate in the program.

Follow-up. Within three weeks of the end of your program, return the participant registration forms, attendance and questionnaires, and submit your host site evaluation and final report.