Bay County Public Library Foundation receives $26K grant to benefit literacy efforts

Ebonee Burrell, The News Herald
·2 min read

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Public Library Foundation received a grant that aims to improve children’s literacy levels.

The Bay County Public Library Foundation received a $26,500 grant from the St. Joe Community Foundation that will benefit the Foundation’s Free Library on Wheels and Little Free Libraries initiatives. FLOW, which visits after-school programs and special events, distributes free books to children to increase and improve literacy in Bay County.

“Ever since we funded the FLOW program in 2019, we’ve tried to help them maintain it and help with the inventory,” said April Wilkes, executive director for the St. Joe Community Foundation. “We are always looking for opportunities to encourage and enhance literacy and education in our community because it’s one of our largest initiatives with the foundation. ”

St. Joe Community Foundation grants $26K to benefit the Bay County Public Library Foundation.
St. Joe Community Foundation grants $26K to benefit the Bay County Public Library Foundation.

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This grant allows the foundation to continue or expand a variety of literacy initiatives throughout Bay County, including the construction of additional Little Free Libraries and FLOW Book Boxes, to be located in areas with the most direct impact.

Laura Roesch, board member of the BCPL Foundation, said that literacy levels for elementary students dropped significantly after Hurricane Michael. She said the grant will help bring those levels back up to where they were before the storm.

“The St. Joe Community Foundation has always been so supportive of our initiatives, and this grant will help us continue to do what we do for our community,” Roesch said. “The literacy rate in Bay County has declined so much over the years, and our goal is to help improve those numbers. Anything that we can do to help the kids will also help the teachers.”

The Foundation’s book inventory will be replenished with a new shipment of up to 30,000 books for all reading levels. In addition, FLOW’s Books of Diversity project will purchase titles to reflect the diverse students of the area including English and Spanish language books.

St. Joe Community Foundation grants $26K to benefit the Bay County Public Library Foundation’s Free Library on Wheels and Little Free Libraries initiatives.
St. Joe Community Foundation grants $26K to benefit the Bay County Public Library Foundation’s Free Library on Wheels and Little Free Libraries initiatives.

The mission of the BCPL Foundation aims to promote literacy and provide cultural enrichment that enhances the Bay County Public Library system and strengthens the community. In the near future, the foundation will coordinate book drives with local schools. Also, there will be a 2023 Elementary School Reading Challenge to help avoid the “summer slide” that often happens if students do not keep up their reading skills over the summer break.

For more information or to volunteer to help distribute books with FLOW, visit www.bcplfoundation.org.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County Library Foundation gets $26K to improve literacy levels