> PRESS RELEASE FROM THE FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES
>
> For Immediate Release, July 18, 2000
>
> Press Contacts:  202-606-8339, Eileen Maxwell:  [log in to unmask]
>
> IMLS Rewards Museums for Community Service
>
> Washington, D.C.-The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the
> Federal agency that lends support to the nation's museums and libraries,
> announced today the first of four rounds of National Leadership Grants to
> Museums for fiscal year 2000.
>
> The Institute of Museum and Library Services awards National Leadership
> Grants for Museums to enhance the quality of museum services nationwide.
> Winning projects provide creative solutions to issues of national and
> local importance and provide leadership models for other organizations to
> emulate.
>
> There are four categories of funding through IMLS' National Leadership
> Grants for Museums.  Today's recipients are funded through the Museums in
> the Community category for partnerships that improve the social and
> economic conditions of their communities:
>
> Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo, MI, $45,500--The Kalamazoo Nature
> Center will partner with the Pretty Lake Vacation Camp, Boys and Girls
> Clubs of Greater of Kalamazoo, Interfaith Homes/Neighborhood Apartments,
> and Lakeside Treatment and Learning Center to develop Neighborhood
> Naturalists, an after school environmental program.  This program will
> expose children to the outdoors; increase children's skills in science;
> foster the development of environmentally appropriate activities; provide
> adults as positive role models; give children healthy alternative
> activities for their out-of-school time and foster increased communication
> between community organizations.  The project will also develop nationally
> marketed workshops to teach other organizations how to develop their own
> Neighborhood Naturalist programs.
>
> Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA, $67,000--The Japanese
> American National Museum, International Institute of Los Angeles, Jewish
> Historical Society of Southern California, Self-Help Graphics, and
> Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School have created a partnership to engage
> a diverse cross-section of people in the documentation and interpretation
> of a neighborhood's history.  The project, "Boyle Heights: Neighborhood
> Sites and Insights," will promote lasting intercultural relations and
> linkages between organizations and communities.  The collaboration will
> include community presentations and forum, a photo collection day, oral
> history interviews, an exhibition with a catalogue and educational
> materials, neighborhood programs and workshops, lecture series and
> symposia.  The results of the project will be disseminated though
> presentations at national conferences, the web site and through a
> guidebook on how to create and nurture community partnerships.
>
> Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI, $129,921--The Youth
> Mentorship Program at Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village provides
> at-risk young people from the Wayne-Westland Community Schools with an
> adult museum mentor who will provide on-the-job training, teach
> problem-solving, team-building and the development of a work ethic. By
> providing the support, resources and motivation they need to stay in
> school, these young people will complete graduation requirements, prepare
> for college or post-secondary school and the work force.  Students will
> also learn how to create a web site that will be used in the dissemination
> of the project results.  The partnership will also develop a workshop that
> will teach other museums, schools and community leaders how to develop
> their own Youth Mentorship Program.
>
> Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, $207,926--Oakland Museum of
> California (OMCA), the Spanish Speaking Citizens' Foundation (SSCF) in
> Oakland, and the Puente Project in Hayward are partnering to expand an
> innovative after-school, summer and museum internship program for
> collecting, preserving, and exhibiting community history.  The program
> will use low-income, inner-city youth who will work with professional
> historians, museum curators, and educators to collect the often-overlooked
> Latino history of Oakland though interviews with community elders. Through
> this project the students will learn more about the community in which
> they live, interact with community elders and develop community pride.
> The students will also disseminate their results by creating an on-line
> exhibition and an anthology of community stories.  The project will also
> be promoted though national conferences, articles in professional
> newsletters, and the Oakland Museum of California annual School Programs
> Guide.
>
> "Museums are becoming increasingly integral to their communities," said
> Beverly Sheppard, Acting Director of IMLS.  "With programs such as these
> communities can work as partners with their museums to help strengthen
> collaborative services and enrich individual lives."
>
>  IMLS received 21 grant applications requesting a total of $2,895,131.00
> for the Museums in the Community funding category of its National
> Leadership Grants for Museums.   The other three categories, to be
> announced in September 2000, are:
>
> Museums Online which addresses the technological needs and issues of
> museums such as digitizing museum collections and/or demonstrating the
> education impact of connecting museums and their communities through
> technology.
>
> Professional Practices which supports programs that address core museum
> professional issues such as strategic planning, professional training, and
> leadership development.
>
> Model Programs of Library and Museum Cooperation which supports innovative
> projects that model how museums and libraries can work together to expand
> their service to the public.
>
> About the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS):  IMLS is an
> independent Federal agency that fosters leadership, innovation and a
> lifetime of learning by supporting the nation's museums and libraries.
> Created by the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996, P.L. 104-208, IMLS
> has an annual budget of  $190 million. There are 122,000 libraries and
> 10,000 museum sites in the United States and its Territories.  For more
> information, and grant applications, contact:  IMLS, 1100 Pennsylvania
> Avenue NW, Washington, DC  20506,  202-606-8536,  www.imls.gov.
>


******************************************************************
 Announcing the first issue of Sun's Campus Advisor newsletter.
Formerly known as the Administrative Advisor, the newsletter has
been re-named to reflect broader coverage of the entire spectrum
   of Higher Education computing, including HPC, collaborative
 research, bioinformatics,libraries, web-based learning, and more.

  Check it out at http://www.sun.com/edu/admin/Winter00.pdf
******************************************************************



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