The American Dream Starts @ Your Library

So appropriate! A public library is sooooo much friendlier a place for a ceremony. What a great idea, "The American Dream Starts @ your Library."

Seventy public libraries in 21 states were selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to receive $5,000 grants as part of “The American Dream Starts @ your library®” literacy initiative, which is funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. According to the Dollar General Foundation, "For more than a century, public libraries have been a cornerstone of the American Dream, providing equal access to information of all kinds. Libraries are among the first American institutions immigrants turn to for help in learning how to read, write and speak English. The libraries participating in the American Dream Starts @ your library can be found in all kinds of communities - from large cities and rural towns across the country."

Here's an example. The Bentonville, Arkansas Public Library hosted a United States Naturalization Ceremony to mark the beginning of The American Dream Starts @ your library grant program. Wonder why no California libraries went after or received the grants. Maybe next year.