Welcome to the Solano County Library Foundation
Read about our mission to support literacy in Solano County
is to the body." Sir Richard Steele
New leader for Library Foundation
Fairfield resident Michalle Shown-Rodriguez, a veteran of non-profit community service, is the new executive director of the Solano County Library Foundation.
Her hiring culminates a months-long search to replace Dilenna Harris, the former foundation leader who resigned in May to take a job with a local healthcare provider. Shown-Rodriguez began her tenure at the Library Foundation Board of Directors' meeting on Thursday, June 13.
"We are tremendously excited and privileged to have Michalle join us," said Board President Jim Dunbar. "Her 25 years of experience in fund development, grant writing, donor relations and executive leadership will take our organization to the next level."
Shown-Rodriguez's work with non-profits began with the birth of her son and subsequent involvement in co-founding and running a support organization in Idaho that served families with medically fragile children. She has been involved with the National Foster Parents Association, the Sierra Association of Foster Families and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
She leaves the Oakland-based Crisis Support Services of Alameda County where she was responsible for developing funding for a $1.9 million program comprising suicide prevention, crisis intervention and public education that included health-related presentations in public schools and counseling for the recently unemployed.
"Being the adoptive parent of four elementary school-aged children, I wanted the opportunity to serve in an education-focused environment where I can have a direct impact on children and their parents and be close to my home," Shwon-Rodriguez said. "I know I can grow the foundation."
Board president Dunbar added, "We have an impassioned, talented, high-energy professional who is connected to our community, who lives and who now will work here to raise the literacy level of our community. She is awesome."
Shown-Rodriguez has a degree in social psychology and earned the Non-Profit Certificate at Stanford Graduate School of Business' Center for Social Innovation among other professional credentials.
Washington D.C. Literary and Cultural Arts Tour 2013
The Solano County Library Foundation's Literary and Cultural Arts Tour is heading to Washington D.C. this year. Tour dates are September 10 - 19, 2013. Highlights include guided tours of the U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court, White House, Library of Congress, U.S. Botanic Gardens, Mount Vernon, and Kennedy Center. Tour participants will also have time to explore the various Smithsonian Museums and monuments on the National Mall or other notable sites throughout D.C. In addition, a day trip to historic Williamsburg will explore life during colonial times.
This year marks the seventh annual Literary and Cultural Tour sponsored by the Solano County Library Foundation. Proceeds from the trip benefit Solano County Library programs. Contact the Solano County Library Foundation at 707-421-8075 or visit our website at www.solanolibraryfoundation.org for complete itinerary and registration details.
For more tour information and/or to add your name to the list, contact Ann Cousineau at acousineau19@gmail.com. The itinerary for the trip is here.
Authors Luncheon 2013
We're excited to announce the first two authors slated to appear at November's Authors Luncheon 2013:
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author, poet and teacher. Her themes include women, immigration, the South Asian experience, history, myth, magical realism and diversity.
She writes for adults and children. Her books have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese. Two novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into films. Her short stories, Arranged Marriage, won an American Book Award. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston.
C. J. Box is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, the Barry Award, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. His short stories have been featured in America's Best Mystery Stories of 2006 and limited-edition printings. 2008 novel Blood Trail was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin (Ireland) Literary Award. The novels have been translated into 25 languages. Open Season, Blue Heaven and Nowhere To Run have been optioned for film.
Reach Out and Read on KVIE
The national Reach Out and Read program was recently featured on the PBS Newshour. Click to watch the video.Watch Pediatricians Add Reading to Essential Health Check-Up List on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
Become a member
To foster better communication with our supporters and to encourage more participation in Foundation and Library events and projects, we began our membership program in November 2006.
LEARN Sponsorship boosts Children's Literacy in Solano
(Jan 11, 2013) Efforts to increase children's literacy in Solano County got a big boost with more than $8,500 in contributions from local businesses.
The Literacy in Education Access Resource Network (LEARN) received grants of $3,000 each from Comcast and Kaiser Permanente. Combined with a $2,500 sponsorship from Sutter Health's Sacramento Sierra Region; enhancing its efforts to stem the dropout rate in local schools.
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