The First Lady of North Carolina announced statewide grants in Chapel Hill on Thursday.

Standing outside under a perfectly Carolina blue sky at the Chapel Hill Public Library, Kristen Cooper laid out a series of grants to libraries across North Carolina.

Chapel Hill Public Library director Susan Brown said during her weekly interview on WCHL’s The Aaron Keck Show that these are competitive, federal grants.

“And luckily in North Carolina, the state library disperses the majority of the funds to public and academic libraries in the state for grants that support innovation and preservation and really interesting projects,” Brown said.

Brown said the Chapel Hill Public Library was receiving a grant of more than $100,000 to extend learning opportunities to utilizing the park space that the library calls home.

“And we’re going to do that with STEAM based – that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math – interactive outdoor learning.”

During Thursday’s announcement, Cooper said this was just one example of the types of the 39 projects that will be funded through the grants.

“[The projects] range from pop-up libraries, mobile services, workforce development programs, children’s literacy programs, makespaces that support learning to STEM and STEAM programs and services.”

Cooper added that this funding would be cut in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, “which would mean a loss of $4.6 million in annual funding to the state library.”

But with this round of funding, Cooper announced a second grant coming to Chapel Hill.

“‘Doing Democracy’ will target K-12 students and their teachers with high-quality experience-based civics education modules and activities to help grow the next generation of engaged citizens.”

This year’s grants are spreading more than $2.3 million across North Carolina.

Photo via Blake Hodge

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