Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library

Your donations to FFRPL increase the Library’s community impact.

Special Library initiatives and projects (through the Harold Hacker Fund for the Advancement of Libraries)

Further education for librarians and library staff with training provided by Rochester Regional Library Council
Foster innovative library projects and programs at member libraries of the Rochester Regional Library Council, Monroe County Library System and Pioneer Library System

Examples from 2023

- The Monroe County Library System purchased 3 new laptops for the MCLS Mobile Learning Lab, which supports literacy education programs at 31 member libraries. The updated lab has been used by a city branch for several Adult Literacy sessions, and one town library’s children’s room, when water damaged their own collection of computers.
- Titles in Mendon Library’s Diverse Voices Book Discussion Kits address topics such as anti-racism, LGBTQIA+ issues, immigration and poverty.Each kit has 7 copies of the featured book and a large print edition.The kits have been used by the library’s book club and distributed through Mendon’s hold system
- Central Library held responsible vendor training, presented by the Cannabis Workforce Initiative, a partnership between Cornell and the Workforce Development Institute. The 5 classes covered careers in cannabis, legal issues, security, and consumer safety.More than 80 people came from across New York State to attend.

Literacy

Promote literacy and building self-esteem by providing free books to elementary school-age children in the City of Rochester
Support the ‘Raising a Reader’ program

Legacy programs

Collections

Framed artwork, ukuleles and sewing machines at Central Library
Thousands of toys at the Lincoln Branch’s Toy Library
Empire Passes for FREE entry at NY State Parks
A portable document reader that can magnify materials up to 131x
Pre-loaded GoChip Beam movies with wifi hotspots (with support from the Reynolds Library Board)

imagineYOU Digital Media Learning Lab for teens
Renovation of Central Library’s newly named Kusler-Cox Auditorium (2018)
Health Central – volunteer medical professionals screen blood pressure, body mass index and glucose levels for patrons at no charge

Community Collaborations

NEA Big Read (April 2023)
Terrace Revitalization Project (2019-2022), in partnership with the City, County, key community stakeholders, Board and Art committee members, donors and patrons: renovation of infrastructure, large-scale public art, community gathering spaces and site-specific historical information
Safe to be Smart youth program at Central Library and five city branches (since 2000)
Partnership with Writers & Books in support of Rochester Reads
- National Book Award-winning novelist Jason Mott (2022)
- Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer (2021)
- Novelist Omar El Akkad, American War (2019)
- Novelist and memoirist Reyna Grande, The Distance Between Us (2018)
- Novelist Rene Denfeld, The Enchanted (2017)
- Essayist and memoirist Sonja Livingston, Queen of the Fall (2016)
- Novelist Karen Thompson Walker, The Age of Miracles (2015)
Sponsorship of Greater Rochester Teen Read authors Leslie C. Youngblood (2022), Ruta Sepetys (2021 – virtual program), G. Neri (2019), Laurie Halse Anderson (2018) and others (FFRPL has served as the Fiscal Sponsor since 2010).

Promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to resources and technologies

Supplement library resources, programs and materials in pursuit of a world free of discrimination by promoting education and equality of opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) people (through the Equality Fund for Humanity & Enlightenment)
Help provide staff and resources at Central Library to preserve and share the history of Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ community, through archival collections and programming. (through the Evelyn Bailey ‘Shoulders to Stand On’ Endowed Fund).
Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues

Special Events

RPL online Author series (launched July 2022)
Publishers’ Circle Library Celebration Dinner
- Virtual Library Celebration (Nov. 2020)
- Palaces for the People author Eric Klinenberg (Nov. 2019)
- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston (Nov. 2018)
- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Goldstein (Nov. 2017)
Award-winning adventurer Jennifer Pharr Davis (April 2018)
Libraries After Dark: May the 4^th Be With You (May 2018)
Libraries After Dark: Fringe Carnival @ Central Library (Sept. 2018)
Young Adult fiction superstar Rick Riordan (Oct. 2017)

Free Computer Access