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North Vancouver City Library granting cash for cool ideas

Small Grants program offers up to $500 for community projects
Library
Librarian Shideh Taleban of the North Vancouver City Library wants to help applicants find what they need – including up to $500 – to hold a fun and inclusive community event. The library is now accepting applications for their Small Grants program. photo Cindy Goodman, North Shore News

Do you have a great idea for a fun community event but just don’t have the cash to get it started?

The North Vancouver City Library might have you covered.

NVCL is now accepting applications for their Library Small Grants program. They’ve got the money – up to 500 bucks per project – and all you need to supply is the plan. There are only a few stipulations for your great idea. For starters, the money must be spent entirely on your project – this is no get-rich-quick scheme – and each event needs to be inclusive; promote learning, friendship and diversity; and involve the library in a creative way. It’s a pretty wide open definition, and it could even include pizza! Does this sound like something you’d be interested in?

“It’s a really good way to get to know your community members or find like-minded people based on the program you prepare,” said Shideh Taleban, the NVCL librarian in charge of the project. “I think this is a very good opportunity for our community.”

This is the fourth year that NVCL has run their small grants program, offering up to $500 to City of North Vancouver residents to create a community-led project that “promotes learning, understanding, and friendship among our city’s diverse residents.” The money comes from library donors, the library offers support and facilities that can help launch the projects, but the ideas and work come straight from the public.

The projects that won grants last year included a Little Lending Library that students helped build in front of Queen Mary Community Elementary; a series of community board game nights for teens; a painting workshop for seniors; a cookie decorating class; and a popular two-part program that saw participants planting herbs in the first session and then returning a few months later to share in a potluck featuring dishes that were made using the herbs they had grown. 

Sharing food is a great way to get to know new people in your community, said Taleban.

“Food is always just interesting for people. It gives them something to talk about,” she said. “The nature of the program is to promote cross-cultural connection and friendship and understanding. Around food, people always have something to share together and to learn from each other. In the potluck session we had Indian food, we had Chinese food, we had Mexican food – all the participants were from around the world, which was great. This showed the diversity in our community, and the fact that they could talk about the recipes together and how they enjoyed tasting each other’s food or asking each other how they made it – that brought a sense of community connectedness and sharing together.”

Food is one great way to start a conversation, but projects that have won in prior years have touched on a multitude of different activities, ranging from a soccer tournament and pizza party to a calculus workshop. The key to the program is that the projects come from the community and there are diverse voices involved, said Taleban. Each project must be put forward by at least two residents.

“What we promote when we are pitching the program is trying to have co-applicants from another culture if you can. If you have a friend from a different culture, try to pair up with them,” said Taleban. Last year’s cookie decorating class came from a collaboration of one applicant of Persian descent and another of Chinese descent.

“Their collaboration was really rewarding,” said Taleban, adding that putting on the event helped one of the project leaders make more positive changes in her life. “She mentioned that after doing the program, although she is ESL and didn’t have the confidence to talk in front of the group … she found the strength in herself to go and apply for a job based off of that, and she is now working.”

Taleban encouraged would-be participants to submit applications even if they weren’t sure their idea followed all of the program’s guidelines.

“Don’t be shy,” she said. “Try to submit an application even if you are not quite sure that it fits in with our criteria. They can always contact me beforehand, talk to me about their idea and I can guide them through. It’s always better to apply to the program rather than not applying.”

More information about the program and application process can be found at nvcl.ca. Applicants can also contact Taleban by email. The deadline for applications is Feb. 15.