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Grants

The Friends of the OPL awards an average of $200K in grants to the Oakland Public Library each year.

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Thank you to our members, donors, The Bookmark Bookstore customers, volunteers, and book donors for making these grants possible!

Photo by Doug Zimmerman

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Photo by Doug Zimmerman

Branch Services/AAMLO - $84,500

This grant supports every OPL location and pays for programming, facility improvements, film licensing for public movie screenings, seeds for OPL seed libraries, parts and supplies for The Bike Fix, and extra funding for branches in high-priority neighborhoods. A special grant to the African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO) funds programs, exhibits, and equipment.

OPL administration grant

Photo by Doug Zimmerman

OPL Administration - $52,000

Administrative grants allow OPL to provide refreshments at staff meetings, participate in recruiting events, organize special staff trainings, make safety improvements, rebind valuable books, and pay for critical items that aren’t available through the City of Oakland. This grant also includes the annual Friends of the OPL scholarship, a competitive award open to OPL staff pursuing a master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

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Photo by Doug Zimmerman

Teen Services - $48,300

Teen Services grants pay for speaker honorariums, craft supplies, after-school snacks, teen furnishings, video game equipment, summer program prizes, the scholarship award and finalist prizes for the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate program, teen volunteer appreciation efforts, and more.

Community Relations

Photo by Doug Zimmerman

Community Relations - $26,200

Friends of the OPL support allows OPL’s Community Relations team to document and promote all that the library offers. These grants pay for photography services, special programs, graphic design software, and adult volunteer appreciation.

Adult Services

Photo by Doug Zimmerman

Adult Services/Outreach - $39,000

These grants pay honoraria to authors and speakers at adult programs, Adult Summer Reading program prizes, systemwide programs such as gardening workshops and digital literacy classes, OPL staff t-shirts, adult outreach supplies, promotional items, and more.

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Photo by Doug Zimmerman

Children's Services - Art for All Programming

Thanks to a separate, dedicated grant of $88,000 from the Friends of the OPL, the library has engaged the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) to provide art instruction with a social emotional component at 11 libraries in high-priority neighborhoods throughout the 2024-25 school year.  

Branch services
OPL Administration
Teen services
Community relations
Adult services
Children's services
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