Press Release – Talk Story Together

Press Release: Extended Toyota Funding for Talk Story Grant

The American Indian Library Association and the Asian Pacific American Librarian Association are pleased to announce the continued support of ‘Talk Story: Sharing Stories, Sharing Culture’ Grant by Toyota Financial Services. Talk Story is a literacy program that caters to Asian Pacific American (APA) and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children and their families, celebrating their stories through books, storytelling, and art. Once again, AILA and APALA have partnered on the grant program and allocated funding to libraries to help them implement programs.

The application will open for submission on January 1, 2017

Information on grants as well as on previous grant winners can be found at: www.talkstorytogether.org.

PRESS RELEASE: The American Indian Library Association and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Announce Winners of the 2016 Talk Story Grant

June 9, 2016

The American Indian Library Association and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Announce Winners of the 2016 Talk Story Grant

California State University Fresno in California – The university is designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution and the Library Diversity Committee will use their funds to host a Native American storytelling event to reach users from these communities. Their event will help promote other library resources of interest to Native American visitors such as the upcoming traveling exhibit “Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness” sponsored by the American Library Association. Funds awarded will also be used to purchase books and audiovisual materials to add to their Native American children’s collections.

Hoh Tribal Library in Washington – The tribal library, located on the Hoh reservation, will use their funds to support young children as there is no early education program for the community. The majority of their library patrons are children ages 1-13 so to engage these users they will create Native American story kits. Families can check out the kits on a variety of topics which will include books, activity idea sheets and materials to complete the activities suggested. To promote the availability of these new materials there will be a kick-off event at the start of summer vacation.

Kenton County Public Library in Kentucky – With funding from Talk Story, KCPL will be holding their eighth Filipino Independence Day celebration. The event will allow KCPL to share aspects of Filipino culture through bilingual stories, folk dance performances, folk songs, games and crafts. KCPL is partnering with the Filipino-American Association of Northern Kentucky, the Filipino American Association of Southern Ohio, the Philippine Nurses Association of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky, and United Filipino-Americans Mabuhay Society. Each family in attendance will be given a bilingual book in English and Tagalog.

Long Beach Public Library, North Branch in California – The North Branch of LBPL will be partnering with the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum to hold a Talk Story program focused on Polynesian culture. The museum will aid the library in filling its display cases with Polynesian artifacts. Dance and musical performances, crafts, movies and storytelling are scheduled for the event in mid-November, in conjunction with events celebrating the relaunch and opening of their new state-of-the-art branch, the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library.

Monroe Township Public Library in New Jersey – Monroe Township Public Library will use the majority of their Talk Story grant to invest into collection development of titles in South Asian languages, collaborating with a local Indian agency to aid in selecting and promoting materials to the local community. The library plans to use this new collection to add storytimes and art programs focusing on Indian culture. The remaining amount of the grant will be used to hire performers for a Diwali themed program, crafts and publication of the event. Moreno Valley High School in California – Moreno Valley High School’s newly revived Polynesian Club will be use their funds to hold a program titled “Let’s Talk Story! Sharing Culture & Celebrating Diversity With Students & Their Families,” and include a book discussion, storytelling, crafts and a closing dance with students and alumni. This is the first Asian/Pacific American community event to be held in over six years. Funds will also be used to purchase a starting collection of APIA books in different areas including APALA award winners.

Pierce County Library System in Washington – To strengthen their relationship and share information about library services and resources with the Puyallup Tribe, the library, as part of Pierce County’s service area, will host two storytelling events with their Talk Story funds. One event will be hosted by the Puyallup community and another will be held at a Pierce County library facility with each event featuring a Puyallup storyteller. The event will also include the chance to make an art project related to the story, which can be used by the families who attend to tell their own stories at home. Funds will also support the purchase of Native American children’s books for the Pierce County libraries.

Sacramento Public Library, South Natomas Library in California – The South Natomas Branch will be using their funding this May to hold programs for adults and children during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The adult program will focus on teaching brush painting techniques that will encompass art styles from China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The library will host a local Hawaiian dance company to perform and present information on Hawaiian dance and culture. The event will also include face-painting and crafts. The library will use remaining funds to add APALA award winning and honor books to the library collection.

Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribal Library in Washington – The tribal library plans to use their Talk Story funds to host multiple cultural events to support the revitalization of their Native language of Lushootseed. The tribal library will host a storytelling night with a Lushootseed storyteller who encourages audience participation with children. Partnering with the tribe’s Cultural Resources department, another event will be held where community members can create family trees and storybooks and learn how to make traditional crafts such as drums and cedar weaving. Additionally the library will purchase culturally relevant Native American materials to enhance their collections which currently are majority donated materials.

Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians in California – The tribal library plans to host a storytelling series for community members and to create books illustrating stories from the book “Pomo Myths”. These events and materials will support the revitalization of the Pomo language and culture. The book creation and storytelling series will both be implemented by tribal high school students. Once the books are created they will be given to attendees at the storytelling series and added to the library collections for those unable to attend to check out. Because storytelling events have not been offered in the community for many years, the tribe hopes to revive interest in the telling of Pomo stories and using the Pomo language.

PRESS RELEASE: The American Indian Library Association and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Announce Winners of the 2015 Talk Story Grant

May 1, 2015

The American Indian Library Association and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Announce Winners of the 2015 Talk Story Grant

The American Indian Library Association (AILA) and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), supported by Toyota Financial Services, are pleased to award a $600 grant to each of the following ten libraries and community organizations to host Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing culture programming. The winning libraries and community organizations are:
Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library, Tennessee – The Hui Hawai`i O Tenesi Hawaiian Civic Club is partnering with the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library to hold a Talk Story program in May during Asian-Pacific Heritage Month. Club volunteers will present a story time, introduce lei making and lauhala weaving, share Hawaiian treats, demonstrate and teach hula and the Hawaiian version of “Simon Says,” “Kumu Hula Says.” The grant will also add a substantial amount of Hawaiian books to the library’s collection.

Kenton County Public Library, Kentucky – KCPL has held a Filipino Independence Day celebration for the last six years. Funding from Talk Story will allow them to continue this tradition of sharing Filipino culture through bilingual stories, folk dance performances, folk songs, games and crafts. KCPL is partnering with the Filipino-American Association of Northern Kentucky, the Filipino American Association of Southern Ohio (FASO) and United Filipino-Americans Mabuhay Society. Each family in attendance will be given a bilingual book in English and Tagalog.

Native Village of Eyak, Alaska – This unique program will facilitate the inclusion of elders in the community to share parenting and breastfeeding experiences with the local breastfeeding support group that meets at the library. The elders will also demonstrate traditional food preparation and artwork. Three visits are planned for the group and the elders to interact. Grant money will also be used to purchase books for the tribal library.

Oceanside Public Library, California – OPL will hold four programs over the course of seven months, with the first story time program in May for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. Families will attend a Japanese-English storytime and exchange letters and photos with children in Fuji-city, Japan — Oceanside’s sister city. Over the summer OPL will provide two performances with local Okinawan dancers and an elder who will share stories of his youth in Okinawa. Attendees will have the opportunity to try Okinawan foods. An additional story time will be held in November. OPL is partnering with the Okinawa Association of America (OAA) to select materials for circulation and story time.

Pacific Islands University, Guam – PIU will hold a Talk Story event in September 2015 with two local elementary schools, both with substantial APA student populations. The program will consist of readings of books about Micronesians, an art project and refreshments. Two additional Talk Story reading events are scheduled to be held at the elementary schools with each school library receiving donations of one-to-two culturally relevant children’s books. The University will also increase its collections of books on APA populations, specifically Micronesians, for PIU education students and library employees.

Palms-Rancho Park Library, California – Palms-Rancho Park Library, a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, will be holding a Children’s Chinese Day program in June 2015, hosted by a WorldSpeak teacher. Children will make moon cakes, a Chinese dragon mask and have a parade. Funds will be primarily used to support growth of the Mandarin collection, to purchase bilingual books and audio-visual materials to support native Chinese speakers and Chinese language learners.

Red Lake Nation College, Minnesota – To coincide with the opening of a new academic/community library building, Red Lake Nation College will host two storytelling sessions that will revolve around elders sharing stories with the children based on the oral tradition. The children will then have the opportunity to read stories to the elders using books purchased with Talk Story funds. Recordings will be made to create and preserve the oral history of traditional Ojibwe stories. A group activity will also take place that will engage the children in creating a permanent display for the library in order to establish the library as a community gathering place.

San Juan College, New Mexico – San Juan College operates a childcare facility that provides hands-on learning for both children and SJC students. During the month of November, San Juan College will host a series of workshops beginning with a storytime of Eric Carle’s Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See? which will be translated into Navajo. In the second workshop, students will work on creating their own story in Navajo and English using regional animals and characters which they will self publish. Finally, the students will perform the story live for the college.

Sonoma County Library, California – Sonoma County Library plans to further develop its partnership with the Graton Rancheria by celebrating and expanding its offerings for the tribal community. There will be a half-day cultural event including storytelling, dancing, crafts and food. Sonoma County Library also plans to expand the circulating materials of the library with the purchase of materials focused on local tribes. There will be a month-long display in support of the event.

USD 497 Native American Student Services for Lawrence Public Schools, Kansas – Three programs are planned for October 2015 where middle and high school students will read stories to the elementary and preschool children. The books used for the program, and purchased with Talk Story funds, will be left with the elementary school to keep in their classrooms and libraries. The middle and high school students will be active participants in the marketing of the Talk Story programs by helping create bookmarks, posters and displays.

Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing culture is a literacy program that reaches out to Asian Pacific American (APA) and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children and their families. The program celebrates and explores their stories through books, oral traditions and art to provide an interactive, enriching experience. Grants provide financial support to libraries and community organizations who want to introduce a Talk Story program into their library.

Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing culture is a joint project between the American Indian Library Association (www.aila.org) and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (www.apalaweb.org). It started as part of ALA 2009-2010 President Camila Alire’s Family Literacy Focus Initiative. 2015 is the sixth year that AILA and APALA have partnered on the Talk Story project and allocated grant funding to libraries to implement programs geared towards the APA/AIAN communities. This is the fourth year that Toyota Financial Services has helped to sponsor grants.
Committee Chairs are Liana Juliano (AILA), Lessa Pelayo-Lozada (APALA), and Ariana Hussain (APALA). For more information, please visit the Talk Story web site: www.talkstorytogether.org.

Press Release: The American Indian Library Association (AILA) and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Announce the Winners of the 2014 Talk Story Grant

June 16, 2014

The American Indian Library Association and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Announce Winners of the 2014 Talk Story Grant

The Asian Pacific American Historical Society (APAHS) in Atlanta, Georgia — in partnership with Chamblee Public Library, a branch of the Dekalb County Public Library in Georgia — will put on a Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Children’s Program including a dance performance, shadow puppet performance and hands-on crafts session.

The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts & Culture (FilAm ARTS) in Los Angeles, California — will support a community story-telling gathering called “Saysay Stories of Historic Filipinotown” at the Echo Park Library in October 2014 in celebration of Filipino American History month.

The Ira H. Hayes Memorial Library, Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Arizona — will use the funds to offer two events focusing on the history of Gila River Indian Community cultural traditions expressed through traditional music of the Pima and Maricopa.

The Gwinnett County Public Library in Lawrenceville, Georgia — in partnership with the advocacy Center for Pan Asian Community Services and the Asian/Pacific-American Historical Society — will purchase materials for and present Storytime Go-Go kits focusing on APA culture and themes and offer events focusing on performance art from the Young Audiences of Atlanta.

The Hercules Library in Hercules, California — will use the funds to support their Philippine Independence Day celebration for the entire community. Raq Filipina and her band will perform a blend of world music informed by traditional songs of the Philippines.

The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva, North Carolina — will purchase Cherokee language books published by the nearby New Kituwah Academy. Two programs will be held in June and July — a Cherokee bilingual story-time and celebration of culture and a Craft and Dance Demonstration in conjunction with the Oconaluftee Indian Village.

The Monterey County Free Libraries in Marina, California— held a successful “Hands Across the Pacific” program in May featuring local residents from Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Guam, and Hawai’i as presenters of stories, songs, and information from their country or culture.

The North Park Branch Library in San Diego, California — will have weekly programs during the month of September that highlight the history and culture of the Kumeyaay Nation.

The Powell Museum in Page, Arizona — will partner with the Page Public Library to provide programming that shares the continuing history, process and beauty of Navajo weaving.

The St. George Branch Library in Utah — will offer three programs; a story-time held on the nearby Shivwits Reservation, a bilingual story-time featuring Southern Paiute Tribal Elder Elenor Tom, and an arts and crafts program.

Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing culture is a literacy program that reaches out to Asian Pacific American (APA) and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) children and their families. The program celebrates and explores their stories through books, oral traditions, and art to provide an interactive, enriching experience. Grants provide financial support to libraries and community organizations who want to introduce a Talk Story program into their library.

Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing cultureis a joint project between the American Indian Library Association (www.aila.org) and the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (www.apalaweb.org). It started as part of ALA 2009-2010 President Camila Alire’s Family Literacy Focus Initiative. 2014 is the fifth year that AILA and APALA have partnered on the Talk Story project and allocated grant funding to libraries to implement programs geared towards the APA/AIAN communities. This is the third year that Toyota Financial Services has helped to sponsor grants.

Committee Chairs are Liana Juliana (AILA) and Lessa Pelayo-Lozada (APALA). For more information, please visit the Talk Story web site: www.talkstorytogether.org.