Impact
Your support makes a lasting impact and keeps our Library strong for everyone who needs it
Community support ensures everyone in our community has free and equal access to resources that advance learning and literacy. Your gift to the Mid-Continent Public Library Foundation activates real change across five overarching impact areas. Learn more about our impact areas below or read about the impact giving made last year in our FY23-24 Impact Report.
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Impact Areas
Digital Access
Wi-Fi to Go and Chromebooks to Go services ensure all individuals and families are able to access essential online resources by checking out a mobile hotspot and device. Your ongoing support allows MCPL to purchase additional units and continue to offer this highly utilized service and bridge the digital divide in our community.
Early Literacy Outreach
MCPL is dedicated to cultivating literacy skills and preparing children for lifelong success through initiatives that provide children with the necessary skills to prepare them to read at grade level. The Forever Book Fund provides books for MCPL’s mobile early literacy vehicle, the Reading Rocket, to distribute to children and families who face barriers to Library services through visits to classrooms, daycare centers, apartment complexes, and other community hubs. The Rocket provides over 10,000 “forever books” annually to families to keep and add to their own libraries, allowing them to foster early literacy skills in the home.
Accessibility
MCPL believes that libraries should be welcoming and safe spaces for everyone in our community. This year, MCPL launched the Access Fund to do even more to strengthen resources for all, including providing sign language interpreters and assistive listening devices at live programs, captioning and translating virtual programs, delivering materials to customers who are homebound, and adding programs like sensory sensitive storytimes that are inclusive of sensory processing differences.
Adult Programming
Community support enables MCPL to continually offer new and innovative programs. Expanded program offerings from Square One Small Business Services to the new Culinary Center at MCPL's Green Hills Library Center would not be possible without your support. The Midwest Genealogy Program Fund allows MCPL’s preeminent resource for family history, the Midwest Genealogy Center, to connect genealogists of all ages to their family histories. Donations also fully funded the restoration of the Woodneath historic home, the location of MCPL’s Story Center, and have continued to support the programs offered there.
Children's Programming
Your support is essential to the continuation and growth of children’s programs, from storytimes to outdoor storywalks. The Summer Reading Endowment Fund ensures that every child in our community has access to books, educational activities, and free programs every summer. Last year alone, MCPL’s Summer Library Program distributed 9,840 books to 19,300+ readers who logged over 887,000 days of reading. Donations have allowed the program to expand and reach children who may face barriers to Library service through outreach visits.