For the past three years, the Queens Public Library Foundation has invited QPL staff members to submit ideas for new and innovative programs that address the specific needs of their communities.

This October, the 2019 Innovation Fund awarded grants of up to $10,000 each to eight exciting new programs throughout our borough. They demonstrate creativity and passion for engaging and supporting the public and will have a remarkable impact on their communities.

Thank you to our generous donors and to everyone who took the time and effort to submit their ideas.

Here are the winning programs; congratulations to their creators!

Older Adults Programming 3.0: Mind-Boosters for Boomers and Beyond: East Flushing and Glen Oaks Libraries will provide programs to help maintain cognitive health in older adults, including musical instrument lessons, language clubs, coding and intergenerational STEM workshops, and brain game programs. This project includes bi-monthly visits to nursing homes and senior centers.

Cambria Heights T.V. (Teen Videos): Cambria Heights Library will offer a three-month program where teens will learn the basics of scriptwriting, storyboarding, and recording audio and video in order to film a pilot episode of an original television show centered around the library.

Children Engineers Collaborative: Queensboro Hill Library will offer a four-part STEAM series that will teach children and parents about climate change and sustainability. Participants will work in teams to use architectural computer apps and kits to design a sustainable community.

#Artsivism: Creative Youth Development Programming: Ridgewood Library will offer arts-based tech programming to teens, including basic filmmaking, animation, graphic design, fashion design, and music making, to foster cultural knowledge and inspire community activism. The library will also publicly display their work.

Grand Family Fundamentals: The Flushing Library Adult Learning Center will create an intergenerational learning program for Mandarin-speaking grandparents with grandchildren in grades K-3. It includes ESOL classes, digital literacy and coping skills workshops, storytimes, and family arts and crafts programs.

2nd Chance Tech Camp: The Queensbridge Tech Lab has developed a 15-week technology training program for formerly incarcerated individuals, including classes on basic coding, graphic design, music production, and creative writing using online communication tools. The program will end with a final graduation day and showcase of the students’ work.

QPL @ Night: The Library’s Government & Community Affairs, Community Engagement & Outreach, and Volunteer Services departments have developed a program to bring together people ages 23-38 at different, non-library venues across the borough for events such as “Trivia Night,” “Sip & Paint,” and “Pizza & Politics.”

Queens Memory Project Community Archiving Ambassadors Program: Queens Memory will train staff at 10 libraries to become archiving “ambassadors.” They will learn how to properly scan documents and photographs, create metadata files, and conduct archival research, oral history interviews, and public programs.