The Friends of the Demopolis Public Library was recently awarded a $1,000 grant from the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF).

““This grant will help the library increase the number of public access computers and help the library meet the technology needs of our community,” library director Morgan Grimes said.

The Demopolis Public Library has been the center of community learning since 1922 and continues to grow and foster community development by providing space and programs that incorporate the arts, technology and information literacy. The library plans to use the grant to increase the number of adult public access computers. The new public access computer will help support a program that the library is working on called “Tech Tuesdays” which will provide patrons with free computer assistance every Tuesday.

“We are in the process of planning Tech Tuesdays and will hopefully be able to implement the program by January 2009,” Grimes added. “The Black Belt Community Foundation and our Mayor Williamson, who serves on the BBCF board, have been instrumental in helping our library meet the needs of the community,”

The Black Belt Community Foundation, which is beginning its fifth year of operation, was established to support community efforts in the Black Belt that will contribute to the strength, innovation, and success of all of the region’s people and communities. The foundation’s mission is to forge a collective stream of giving from the community and other sources so we, the people of the Black Belt, can enhance our continuing efforts to lift ourselves by “taking what we have to make what we need.”

BBCF awards were presented on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at the Central Alabama Farmers Co-Op in Selma, Alabama. Organizations receiving awards from this round of funding include community economic development, environmental awareness, health and human services, youth organizations, and other organizational development projects and programs across BBCF’s twelve-county service area.