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Programs: Supporting Excellence
Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation supports excellence for the future of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. FVRL Foundation's focus is to extend the reach and enhance the depth of public library services to the more than 380,000 residents of Southwest Washington.
FVRL Foundation plays an important role in meeting the emerging needs of the library. Tax limitation measures affecting the traditional source of revenue, rapid growth in population, increasing library usage and rising costs challenge the provision of quality library services. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, FVRL Foundation can more easily respond to immediate needs and unique opportunities than a public agency.
Programs We Support
R.E.A.D. (Reading Encouragement Advances Development)
Begun in 1992, R.E.A.D. is designed to stimulate interaction between parents and children to encourage early reading. More than 5,700 children and adults have benefited from the R.E.A.D. program.
Activities have included:
- Parent-child book discussion groups
- Mad science nights for families at the library
- Classes where parents and caregivers learn how to instill the love of reading in children
- Enhancement of the children's collection
- Production of booklists naming age-appropriate materials for children as they develop
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“Hello Baby” Book Bags
With a goal of encouraging parents to read to their babies and to make a connection to the library, these bags contain a free book, library information, parenting tips and a coupon to be redeemed for another free book at any branch or bookmobile in the district. The “Hello Baby” book bags are distributed where parents of newborns frequent in the library district.
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Bookmark Contest
This contest is held every other year and offers an opportunity for children in K-8 to be creative and design a bookmark. One winning bookmark is chosen for each grade level and then reproduced and distributed throughout the library district (11,000 copies are made of each winning bookmark). In 2003, over 6,000 children entered the contest. The FVRL Foundation has supported the bookmark contest since 1985.
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Teen Programming
FVRL Foundation supports teen programming in a variety of ways.
- Providing Young Adult Advisory Boards (YAABs) with food for meetings (this encourages teens to attend), funding for programs and technical assistance. YAABs involve teens in the design and implementation of teen programming and services.
- Purchasing incentive prizes for the Teen Summer Reading program.
- Enhancing the outreach to juvenile detention centers by purchasing books for discussion groups and for a collection at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center. The teens who participate in the book discussion groups get to keep the books when they are done.
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Adult Literacy
“Everyday English @ Your Library” provides better and more meaningful services to non-English speaking residents in targeted Southwest Washington communities. Conversation circles address the emerging needs of non-native English speakers by offering free literacy tutoring and weekly English conversation opportunities. This program also provides children's activities and cultural and informational programming associated with the conversational circles. In addition, the program purchases English language self-study materials.
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Endowment Funds
We have a general endowment, which can support any library program with a need at Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. There is also a collection endowment that provides supplemental funding for the library's acquisition budget.
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Building Projects
- The Friends of White Salmon Valley Community Library raised more than $210,000 for the creation of a new, larger home for the White Salmon Valley Community Library.
- The Friends of Vancouver Mall Community Library raised slightly more than $57,000 to help pay the cost of renovation when Vancouver Mall Community Library relocated to another spot in the mall.
- The Friends of La Center Community Library raised enough funds to pay for moving and renovating an historic hospital building to serve as the new La Center Community Library.
- The Friends of Battle Ground Community Library helped raise more than $3.2 million to build a new Battle Ground Community Library in the Battle Ground Village development.
