For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 14, 2021
CONTACT:
Amy Breslin
APALA Co-Chair
familylit@apalaweb.org
Angela Thornton
AILA Co-Chair
AILA.TalkStory@gmail.com
Applications are now being accepted for American Indian or Asian American & Pacific Islander programs.
Talk Story: Sharing Stories, Sharing Culture is a literacy program that reaches out to Asian American, Pacific Islander and American Indian families. Talk Story celebrates and explores Asian American, Pacific Islander, and American Indian stories through books, oral traditions, and cultural arts to provide an interactive and enriching experience. This grant provides financial support to libraries and community organizations who want to introduce a Talk Story program. 2021 Talk Story programs may be conducted in person or virtually.
Talk Story is a partnership between the Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA) and the American Indian Library Association (AILA) and 2021 grant funding is available through the generous support of Toyota California Community Foundation.
Eligibility
Libraries and community organizations that serve Asian American, Pacific Islander, and/or American Indian children and their families are eligible to apply. We encourage libraries and community organizations to work together on a Talk Story program. With the exception of cross-border tribal organizations, all organizations must be based in the United States or U.S. territories.
Organizations who have previously been awarded two Talk Story grants are ineligible for additional awards.
Two grant winners for each organization (APALA and AILA) will receive $750 to fund a program that meets the criteria of the grant.
Application
Please submit a complete and detailed application including a Statement of Need, Narrative, and Proposed Budget. Please describe the program your library or community organization would do with the award and what types of programs highlighting Asian American, Pacific Islander, or American Indian cultures you are interested in planning for your community.
You may apply for either an APALA grant OR an AILA grant. You may not apply to both organizations.
Deadline and Application
Applications must be received by Thursday, April 1, 2021.
Awards will be announced by Saturday, May 1, 2021.
“Cultural sharing is a valued custom in Asian American, Pacific Islander, and American Indian cultures,” said Amy Breslin, Co-Chair of the Talk Story grant. “This grant allows the opportunity for celebrating our history and traditions and building partnerships in our communities.”
Past grant winners have included language programs, early childhood literacy, youth identity development, and a variety of arts programming including dance, music, and writing. “There is a lot of room for creativity in this grant,” said Angela Thornton, Co-Chair of the Talk Story program. “We want people to explore partnerships in their communities and see what they can create.”
Applications are due by April 1, 2021. Eligibility details and past winners can be found at www.talkstorytogether.org/grants.
###
Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.