The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County received a contribution of $40,000 from the Library Foundation of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The money is one of the first significant distributions from the Foundation’s unrestricted endowment and is being used to help support the Library’s Summer Adventure program.
Summer Adventure is having one of its most successful years to date. Summer Adventure includes incentives for reading, tutoring for children struggling to read at grade level and Brain Camps to help prevent the loss of academic skills during the summer. By mid-July, the Library had a record number of registrations with more than 33,000 people participating. Cardholders logged more than 45,000 weekly check-ins and the Library served more than 13,000 meals and snacks to hungry children. Summer Adventure continues through July 31 and meals and snacks are being served through Aug. 3.
Established in 2004, the Library Foundation has worked to grow its endowment to help ensure stable funding for Library programs and initiatives to fill in the gaps in public funding. In addition to raising endowment dollars, the Library Foundation also works to secure other grants and contributions to support the Library and initiatives like Summer Adventure.
“Through the support of many donors we now have an endowment valued at more than $6.5 million,” says Staci Dennison, the Foundation’s Thomas W. Jones Executive Director. “We are now at a point in our history where we can begin supporting the programs our Library offers by leveraging our endowment portfolio and truly fulfilling the legacy of those donors who invested to secure the Library’s future needs—this is an exciting day.”
“The enthusiastic participation of adults, teens and kids in Summer Adventure this year is a clear indication of the need for such a program,” said Paula Brehm-Heeger, the interim Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director of the Library. “Providing free Brain Camps, meals, snacks, tutoring, and fun reading-based activities is core the Library’s main mission. But that important work takes real money to complete and we are grateful to the Library Foundation for responding to the call for more funding.”
For a complete list of sponsors of Summer Adventure, visit CincinnatiLibrary.org/SummerAdventure. For more photos from the 2018 Summer Adventure program, visit the Library’s Flickr stream.
The Library Foundation is dedicated to ensuring a great Library system by raising, managing and allocating funds to expand and enhance the collections, programs and services of the Library. For more information and to donate, visit Foundation.CincinnatiLibrary.org.
