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Library gets $68K for cultural literacy, $200K for roof repairs
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Posted on Jul 29 2011
Joeten-Kiyu Public Library will launch a new program to promote and enhance cultural literacy among the youth after it received a $68,400 grant, according to executive director John Oliver Gonzales.
He added the facility’s dilapidated roofs will also be repaired using a $200,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The $68,400 grant was awarded under the Department of Public Health’s Community Guidance Center’s Project Brabu, which applied and received funding from the federal government.
Dubbed as Project CLAP, or Just Keeping People Literate through Cultural Literacy After-School Programs, it aims to provide literacy outreach services in key population centers throughout the islands. Its target population—the children and youth population throughout the CNMI—will have an opportunity to learn an array of skills and knowledge from programs and activities that will be offered by partner organizations such as the arts council, sports associations, and various groups that will specifically enhance cultural skills and interests.
According to Gonzales, majority of youth remain highly exposed and at-risk to juvenile delinquency due to lack of or no consistent and meaningful after-school programs that would offer them more real, tangible opportunities to become productive and engaged.
Within the year, Gonzales also said that the public library’s roofing will undergo repair and replacement, thanks to the HUD grant. He said they applied for the funding last fiscal year and the actual drawdown will happen this year. He said an RFP for the competitive bidding is being finalized and will soon be announced.
“Our goal is to work with the selected contractor to retrofit our entire roofing and integrate it with some solar panels to augment our energy conservation measures, of course within the available budget,” Gonzales told Saipan Tribune.
Since the library was built in 1991, its roofs have never been repaired or replaced.
