Staff members at DeKalb County Public Library have won two prestigious grants for special programs at library branches this summer and fall. Announcements of the awards were made this spring.

Mia Buggs, a youth services librarian at the Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown branch, and Veronica Winley, Branch Manager at the Lithonia-Davidson branch, are the recipients of the 2012 Virginia Hamilton and Arnold Adoff Creative Outreach Grant at Kent State University. Only one such grant is awarded to librarians each year.

The grant is available for projects that raise awareness through literature of the need to respect and honor diversity. Buggs and Winley received $1000 for their project, “WhenTribes Meet: The History of Black Native Americans.” The project is a day-long program of book discussions, storytelling, crafts and cultural activities for all ages to explore and illuminate the history of black Native Americans. It is tentatively scheduled for October 6, 2012 at the Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown branch.

Candace Ushery, a youth services librarian at the Salem-Panola branch, was one of only 40 winners of a $1000 Teen Summer Internship Program Grant sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association. Funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, a division of the Dollar General discount retail chain, the purpose of the grant is to offer teens an opportunity to learn about and take part in the important work libraries do. Ushery says the grant will provide two-month internships for three to four students during June and July at the Salem-Panola branch in Lithonia.