Programs
Read, learn, discover!
The Chicago Public Library Foundation was established in 1986 as an independent, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to working with the City of Chicago in a true public/private partnership to enrich the collections and programs of the Chicago Public Library.
Through the generous support of many civic-minded corporations, foundations and individuals, The Foundation has provided start-up funding for new programs, such as technology and expanded Sunday and evening service hours, that are now included in the Library's city-funded budget.
The Foundation also provides on-going funding, through its endowments and annual fundraising for collections, book acquisition and a variety of community-based programs that contribute to the excellence of the Library. In 2005, these gifts provided more than $2.5 million to the Chicago Public Library in support of programs including:
Summer Reading Programs for Children, Adults, Teens and Families
From June 2 – August 2, 2008, kids ages 3 and up will go green with Read Green, Live Green, the Chicago Public Library’s 31st Summer Reading Program for children and Read Green, Live Green: Summer Reads for Adults, a summer long exploration of the environment for teens, adults and families!
Adopt-a-Branch
The Adopt-a-Branch Program provides the opportunity to support individual branch libraries through the Chicago Public Library Foundation. The program currently funds the Teacher in the Library and CyberNavigators programs in branch libraries throughout the City.
Teacher in the Library
The Teacher in the Library (TIL) program makes available after school homework help and guidance provided by caring, trained, accredited teachers who can address each child's individual needs. Serving children ages five and up, the Teacher in the Library program provides high quality, professional after-school homework help to Chicago's at-risk children and youth a half million times each school year. TILs explain homework assignments, suggest strategies for completing assignments, contact teachers, speak to parents and collaborate with Library staff. The TIL program currently operates in 38 branch libraries throughout the City.
Cyber Navigators
CyberNavigators computer tutors help provide access to information resources for both adults and children. Through technology training and mentoring, the CyberNavigators program strengthens the Chicago Public Library's ability to connect Chicagoans to their world and fulfills the Library's mission to provide equal access to information for all Library patrons.
Bookamania
Bookamania 2008 will take place on Saturday, November 22 at the Harold Washington Library Center. Target Corporation will again be Bookamania's generous sponsor.
Last year, over 4,000 children and their families celebrated Bookamania 2007.
This day-long free celebration of books for children ages 3–10 years old was made possible by a generous grant from Target Corporation through the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
Great Kids Read
Funded since 2003 with generous grants to the Chicago Public Library Foundation from Kraft Foods, the Great Kids program has provided emergent literacy collections for parents, teachers and caregivers for all Chicago Public Library locations. Kraft's funding has also allowed the Library to collaborate with the Chicago Park District in sponsoring monthly reading activities in 15 Park District fieldhouse locations, as well as bringing the Summer Reading Program to Chicago's parks. Great Kids grants also fund the extremely popular Great Kids Museum Passports program.
Teen Volume
The Teen Volume program fosters the literacy of Chicago's teens. In addition to a commitment to create new and extensive book collections for teens in all Chicago Public Library locations, Teen Volume includes author visits, online and branch library book discussions, a teen advisory council and a Reader's Theatre Project. Learn more at the Chicago Public Library.
NatureConnections
Funded through the Herman Dunlap and Ellen Thorne Smith Fund of The Chicago Community Trust, the NatureConnections program has allowed the Library to purchase book collections and provide natural science programs for children in all Chicago Public Library locations for over 20 years.
One Book, One Chicago
Creator of private eye Philip Marlowe, author Raymond Chandler transformed 20th Century detective fiction with his distinct brand of witty, hard-boiled dialog. The Long Goodbye followed Chandler's earlier Marlowe stories The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake. In The Long Goodbye, Chandler introduced a more complex Philip Marlowe. Set in atmospheric 1950's Los Angeles, The Long Goodbye features an older, more solitary Marlowe in a story of love and murder that examines friendship, justice and compassion amid endless cigarettes and gin gimlets.
Chicago Book Festival
Each October, the Chicago Public Library presents the Chicago Book Festival, a City-wide book festival that creates a culture of reading throughout Chicago by working with bookstores, cultural institutions and other City departments to organize and promote author events and book-related programs for children and adults. Highlights of the month include One Book, One Chicago and the Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner, which honored Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2006 with the Library Champion award and has hononed literary stars such as author John Updike, playwright David Mamet and poet Nikki Giovanni. The Chicago Book Festival features a schedule of book/author events that offers something for every reader. The Chicago Book Festival is funded by the Chicago Public Library Foundation in partnership with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Public Library, the Mayor's Office of Special Events and the Chicago Tribune.
Pick International Relations Collection and Author Series
The Pick International Relations grant from the Albert Pick Jr. Fund allows the Library to create collections and free public programs that foster dialogue and debate by presenting various viewpoints and a balanced exchange of ideas on complex global issues. Speakers have included Kevin Phillips, author of Bad Money and American Theocracy; James Carroll, author of House of War; Bernard Lewis, James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly; Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a member of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission; former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell; Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell, America in the Age of Genocide; Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban; and Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran.
The Humanities Collection
Each year the Chicago Public Library Foundation awards the Library a grant to purchase books in the fine arts, literature and other areas of the Humanities for all 79 Chicago Public Library locations.
Oprah Winfrey Fund
Funded by a gift from Oprah Winfrey to the Chicago Public Library Foundation, each year the Library purchases Newbery, Caldecott and King Award-winning children's books for all Library locations.
