Building a Bridge to Literacy
For African-American Male Youth: A Call to Action for the Library Community
Grant Proposal
INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.
DEFINING THE NEED
National data and research shows that a persistent literacy achievement gap exists for African-American male children and adolescents, and that lack of adequate literacy skills contributes to negative life outcomes for these children, including a continuance of intergenerational poverty, imprisonment, and substance abuse. Historically, libraries and librarians have actively embraced a role in promoting literacy, and the library profession continues to play an important role in this arena. Yet, there is currently no coordinated national effort among the library community to address the literacy achievement gap that persists for African-American males.
ABSTRACT
The School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the School of Library and Information Science at North Carolina Central University are applying for a one-year Level II Collaborative Planning Grant to hold a summit entitled BUILDING A BRIDGE TO LITERACY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE YOUTH: A CALL TO ACTION FOR THE LIBRARY COMMUNITY to bring together national stakeholders, including members of the library and education community, researchers, educational policy-makers, national organizations focused on the needs of African American youth, publishers, and young Black males, to focus on the role of school and public libraries in closing the literacy achievement gap of African-American male youth.
The two and one-half day summit, which will take place in June 2012, will focus on three areas: Research (what is known about the literacy development and needs of African-American male youth and additional gaps that need to be filled); Programs & Services (what programs and services work to support the literacy needs of African-American male youth and what gaps exist); and Resources (what resources are needed to enable school and public libraries to effectively address the literacy needs of African-American male youth). The outcome for the summit will be the development and dissemination of a white paper that addresses each area. It is our intent that this white paper will not only act as a call to action for the library community, but will also inform other key groups of the potential role libraries can play in addressing the literacy needs of young Black men. Specifically, it will inform a board range of stakeholders about the magnitude of the crisis, offer recommendations, including a research agenda, about how the library community can actively address the literacy needs of African-American male youth, and encourage collaboration among the library community, the education community, and other local, state, and national agencies to address this gap.