Great Stories Club Grants

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office is currently accepting applications for the Great Stories Club series on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. The theme is "Growing Up Brave on the Margins."

Applications will be accepted from May 15 to July 15, 2019.

The ALA Great Stories Club is a thematic reading and discussion program that engages teens who are facing difficult challenges through literature-based library outreach programs. An expansion of ALA's long-standing Great Stories Club program model, the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) series will feature books that explore questions of race, equity, identity, and history, and support racial healing sessions with participating libraries, their community partners, and their teen readers. This TRHT series — "Growing Up Brave: Courage and Coming of Age" — is supported by grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Participating libraries will work with small groups of approximately 10 teens; provide up to four theme-related books for each participant to keep as their own; convene opportunities for exploration and discussion of relevant humanities content among peers; and offer sessions for program conveners and participants led by a racial healing practitioner(s). Book discussions will be led by an experienced programming librarian, often in cooperation with staff from a partner organization or department, such as teachers and counselors.

• Read the project guidelines
• Read the FAQs
• Learn more about the theme, "Growing Up Brave on the Margins: Courage and Coming of Age"
• Apply online

To be notified about upcoming Great Stories Club offerings, sign up for ALA's Programming Librarian e-newsletter.

All libraries are encouraged to use reading lists, discussion questions, and other resources from previous Great Stories Club themes. All materials are free. To view them, visit our Resources page.

Questions? Contact ALA's Public Programs Office at publicprograms@ala.org.