Applications are now being accepted and are due by 11:59PM on May 2, 2025.
Download the application here.
Each year Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library (FFRPL) offer a grant opportunity for Rochester area libraries through the Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries.
This grant opportunity is open to all RRLC member libraries and library systems, all OWWL Library System libraries and all Monroe County Library System libraries.
Funding will be available for projects that meet the following areas:
- To further education and professional development for librarians and library staff throughout the five-county region served by Rochester Regional Library Council.
- To further innovative library projects and programs at RRLC member libraries and the Monroe County Library and OWWL Library Systems and their member libraries.
The Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries honors Harold Hacker, former director of the Monroe County Library System and founder of the Rochester Regional Library Council and OWWL Library System.
The Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library manages the Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries and provides additional supplemental funds each year to enhance the impact of these grants. The Rochester Regional Library Council is the Administrative Agent.
Download the application here.
Applications are due by 11:59PM on May 2, 2025.
Contact rrlc@rrlc.org with any questions.
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2024 Harold Hacker Grant recipients
Arcade Free Library: Full Steam Ahead – The project will create a science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) Library.
Clifton Springs Library: Community Garden Expansion – The project will make the existing garden more accessible to all patrons and community members, regardless of physical limitations that may make traditional gardening difficult. Additionally, the project will provide a larger quantity of vegetables and herbs to share with the community and to use in healthy cooking classes and demonstrations.
Greece Public Library: Memory Care Project – The project will to make the Greece Public Library and MCLS an important resource for members of the community that are affected by memory loss, Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia, and the people that care for them. The project will consist of physical kits that can be checked out by patrons at Greece and member MCLS libraries, as well as starting a monthly program called a Memory Café.
Parma Public Library: At-Home Storytime Kits – The project will create 13 themed circulating kits that simulate a library stroytime at home. Kits will include picture books, a manipulative, songs/rhymes, and instructional materials for the adult regarding how to use the materials to foster early literacy skills in the child.
Red Jacket Community Library: Sensory Friendly Library Environments and Programming – The project will make the library more accessible by adding elements to the space to make the Library’s programming and the Library itself a more sensory welcoming and safe environment.
Wood Library: Calming Spaces at Wood Library – The project will reduce sensory overload and create a more enjoyable library experience for patrons. The Library will purchase items that patrons report will help them better enjoy and use the library, and a few larger pieces to establish Calming Corners in the children’s library, teen room, and adult spaces.