ALA has announced a competitive grant program, sponsored by Google, that will fund a cohort of 25-50 school and public libraries to design computational thinking and computer science programs for and with youth, including underrepresented youth. The grant application will open in late July. If you’d like to get notification when the application is open, sign up via this online form. The $500,000 program is part of Phase III of Libraries Ready to Code, an ongoing collaboration between ALA and Google to ensure library staff are prepared to develop and deliver programming that promotes computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) among youth, two skills that will be required for challenges and jobs of the future. YALSA is partnering with ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy, AASL, and ALSC to implement this program. Learn more.
We’re also assembling a committee to vet the applications in September. If you have interest in this project, are not planning to apply for it yourself, have expertise in CS &/or CT, and have time in September to review the applications, please contact Beth Yoke at byoke@ala.org to inform her you’d like to be considered for a spot on the committee. To demonstrate your expertise in this area and increase your chance of serving on the committee, we encourage you to share a CS or CT program idea on the Teen Programming HQ or start or participate in a discussion on the HQ relevant to this topic. To be eligible to serve on the committee, you must be a current personal member of either AASL, ALSC or YALSA. Membership in YALSA/ALA starts at $61 per year. Anyone interested in joining is welcome to do so! Join online or contact our fab membership guru, Letitia Smith at lsmith@ala.org or 312.280.4390.
