Miracle on Canal Street
In partnership with FOX6, the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation
was selected by Potawatomi Bingo Casino as one of the 2006 Miracle on
Canal Street Charities. Special events throughout the fall resulted
in the MPL Foundation receiving a gift of $51,000 from Potawatomi for
children’s books and materials.
Paul
Gottfried Krikelas Technology Conference Room
The Krikelas Technology Conference Room is located on the second
floor of Central Library. The room features conference space for
10 people, white board and flip chart, wireless and hardwire Internet
access, LCD projector, DVD player, 27-inch television, laptop computer
with Microsoft products and business planning software. It provides
a quiet, semi-private, office-like setting for purposeful work, study,
and meetings.
The new room was made possible through a generous gift to the Milwaukee
Public Library Foundation by board member Barbara Stein, in memory of
her nephew who passed away in 2004.
Benjamin Franklin Award Dinner
Nearly 400 guests gathered at the magnificent Central Library for the 19th annual
Benjamin Franklin Award Celebration on Thursday, October 18th to honor Northwestern
Mutual CEO, Ed Zore. Guests enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour while bidding
on exciting silent auction items. Foundation president, John Stollenwerk
presented the award to Mr. Zore who remarked, “The Milwaukee Public Library
is the center of culture in our community. It's important to have a great
system to enhance both learning and fun.” The program was followed
by an elegant “Taste of Central” dinner reception featuring dinner
stations throughout the 2nd floor of the library finishing with desserts in the
Children’s room.
The dinner is the foundation’s major fundraising
event of the year. Proceeds
from the event help to strengthen the resources of the foundation, enabling it
to support and enhance library collections, technology, programming, and facilities
as well as funding scholarships to train public service librarians.
Ready to Read with Books2Go!
The library reached 15,000 children,
their childcare providers, and their families through the award winning
Books2Go program, stressing six basic skills children
need to learn to read. While efforts were focused on 330 children
at 36 childcare centers, more than 900 child care providers are enrolled
in the program. The program is generously supported by the Jane
Bradley Pettit Foundation, the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation
and the Lubar Family Foundation.
Computer
Classes
Milwaukee residents continue to express interest in learning
basic computer skills. With generous support from Northwestern Mutual
Foundation, the library offered 432 computer classes, with over 4,200
people attending. There were three sessions of classes – spring,
summer and fall – in 2006. Since the public training program
was created in 1999, the library has offered, free of charge,
3,625 classes with a total attendance of 31,924.
Northwestern Mutual’s sponsorship of this program provides
an excellent service to citizens seeking to upgrade employment
skills, to businesses that rely on hiring qualified workers,
to school students without computer access at home, and to citizens
young and old who want to stay connected to the world.
Job Center Help
Grants from Miller Brewing Company and the Tellier Foundation
supported the development of Job Search Drop-in Centers at selected
library computer labs providing drop-in, technology assistance
to job-seekers. Visitors
to the drop-in centers are able to receive assistance from a trainer. The
trainer provides the intensive one-on-one assistance they need
to expand their job searches, update or create resumes, fill
out on-line job applications, or search for employment on the
Internet.