Photo credit: Office of Assemblywoman Levenberg
On Tuesday, September 12, Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg announced a list of grantees receiving funding through her office for projects around the 95th Assembly District. Each member of the Assembly received $250,000 in the 2023-24 state budget to help them support not-for-profits, municipalities and school districts with services and activities that benefit the public. This year, Levenberg has distributed this allotment to ten grantees. They are:
- The Town of Cortlandt’s Information Technology department for server upgrades ($50,000)
- The Village of Briarcliff for automated external defibrillator (AED) upgrades ($20,000)
- The Ossining Public Library for expenses related to technology education and after-hours book pickup ($30,000)
- The Field Library of Peekskill for technology and materials to support new readers, job seekers and English-language learners ($30,000)
- The Croton Free Library for technology upgrades and revitalization of existing program rooms ($20,000)
- Caring for the Hungry and Homeless of Peekskill (CHHOP) for their “Welcome Home for Veterans” program, assisting homeless veterans with the transition from shelter to permanent housing ($20,000)
- The Garrison School District for their cultural arts program ($35,000)
- Support Connection of Yorktown for expenses related to their peer counseling program ($15,000)
- The John C. Hart Memorial Library in Yorktown for their digital book club ($15,000)
- The Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library in Cold Spring for their Book Bike program ($15,000)
The grants are intended to help defray the cost of one-time operational expenses associated with projects that will help grantees better serve their surrounding communities. Assemblywoman Levenberg’s office is currently reviewing applications for a second, larger round of funding to be used for capital expenses. Municipalities, school districts and not-for-profits that have been pre-qualified through the State’s Grants Gateway can click here to review the guidelines and apply by 4 PM on Friday, September 29.
Levenberg, a member of the Libraries and Educational Technology committee in the Assembly, is touring each of the libraries receiving funding to view firsthand how the funded projects will improve program offerings. “At this moment in time, libraries provide so many different types of support. Beyond just promoting literacy, which is valuable in and of itself, our libraries have truly become community centers, and we are fortunate to have so many great ones in AD95,” Levenberg said.
The libraries expressed gratitude for the support. “The Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library is excited to ‘get the wheels in motion’ and bring our Book Bike concept to life through the funding provided by Assemblywoman Levenberg,” said Johanna Reinhardt, Director of the Butterfield Library. “We can’t wait to ‘hit the road’ with our new bike, which will bring the library’s many resources – from books and movies to programs, tech help and so much more – to all corners of our community in a fun, unique, and eco-conscious way. The Butterfield Library is profoundly grateful to Assemblywoman Levenberg for her enthusiastic support of this project!”
Gwen Glazer, Head of Collection Development and User Engagement at the Croton Free Library said, “This funding will allow us to revitalize a room that gets a ton of use in our Library — from tutors and students and people learning English to artists, crafters, writers, and LEGO-builders! We can’t wait to make it a more welcoming and useful space for everyone, and we really appreciate Assemblywoman Levenberg’s support in that goal.”
“We are so thankful to Assemblywoman Levenberg for securing this grant for the Ossining Public Library and the Ossining Community,” said Karen LaRocca-Fels, Director of the Ossining Public Library. “The installation of before- and after-hours pickup lockers will make library materials available 24/7 and will help us better serve community members who aren’t easily able to visit the library building during our open hours. The grant will also help us support much needed technology training classes for the public.”
“We are very grateful to Assemblywoman Levenberg for funding our Kindle Book Club initiative,” said Yvonne Cech, Director of the John C. Hart Memorial Library of Yorktown. “This grant funding will allow us to purchase up to 30 e-reader devices. We will use these devices to teach people how to download ebooks from our enormous catalog of over 100,000 ebooks. If people haven’t stepped into the world of digital reading, this funding will allow us to go into the community and help them understand how to do it. E-reader devices also benefit vision impaired readers and emerging readers with changeable font sizes and the read aloud function. We’ll also be able to better serve the 15 book clubs in our community by providing high demand titles in a more timely way – no more waiting for months for books on hold!”
“It is a pleasure to support innovative programming that will improve the lives of my constituents,” said Levenberg. “These grants will help ten worthy organizations contribute even more to our communities.”