New Lafayette Library and Learning Center Achieves Capital Campaign Goal

Generous Community Support and Foundation Grants Make ‘Library of the Future’ a Reality

Lafayette, California, January 25, 2006 – The Lafayette Library and Learning Center announced it has successfully raised $11.9 million through generous community-wide donations and local-area foundation grants to build a new community library and begin an endowment. In addition to the dozens of generous leadership gifts from Lafayette residents, two local foundations, The Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation and Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation have donated $1.5 million and $500,000 respectively. The foundation grants were made possible because of the grassroots success and support within the Lafayette community. After an impressive founding gift from Friends of the Lafayette Library, an April 2005 Library Campaign Kick-off invited the entire community to participate and donate. By December 31, 2005, eight months later, the campaign goal of $11.9 million was achieved.

In another demonstration of community support, every mayor of the City of Lafayette since 1968 has donated to the Mayor’s Fund for the Library. Collectively, these 25 individuals contributed more than $430,000 toward the new library project.

“With the support of more than 2,000 Lafayette families, individuals, foundations, and businesses, the Lafayette Library and Learning Center is moving from the concept of Imagine a Place to Look What We Did!” commented Anne Grodin, Chair, Lafayette Community Foundation. “Over the past two years, the Lafayette community came together as hundreds of donors and volunteers worked to ensure that the unprecedented concept of a library and a learning center would be realized.”

“Our unique concept of what a library can be has been called “a national model” by library professionals,” stated Gwenn Lennox, Campaign Director. “The generosity, enthusiasm and hard work that made this campaign so successful is a model as well – a model for what happens when a community comes together to pursue an exciting vision.”

Gloria Duffy, President and CEO of The Commonwealth Club of California, said that she was “very impressed by how quickly the campaign met its public goal; this is a compelling project that is widely supported in the community. Having jump-started the Clubs programming as a Consortium partner, with our second Lafayette public forum held last night, it’s clear that both the funding and the implementation of the project are on the fast-track!”

“The Lesher Foundation believes that libraries of the future can be much more than repositories of books. The Lafayette Library project embodies the elements of a community gathering spot, a place dedicated to lifelong learning and will build a strong collaboration with other nonprofits in our region,” commented Kathleen Odne, Executive Director, Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation

In late 2004, the State of California awarded the library project an $11.9 million state grant, easing the City of Lafayette’s financial obligation. The innovative concept for the Lafayette Library has been significant in the success of the campaign.

The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation was established in 1989 and is dedicated to providing grants to nonprofits in Contra Costa County to enhance the quality of life. The foundation funds in the focus areas of education, the cultural arts and programs benefiting children and strengthening families. Additional information is available at www.lesherfoundation.org

The Glenn Seaborg Consortium is an innovative collaboration of educational, art and cultural groups. Twelve pre-eminent Bay Area organizations have come together to offer programs for life-long learning at one single site to serve the entire East Bay community.

The Lafayette Library and Learning Center represents a community-driven effort to build a regional resource and national model for the library of the future. On track for groundbreaking in early Fall 2006, the campaign has achieved its goal. With a two-year building schedule, the library will open its doors in 2008. The Lafayette Library and Learning Center will be a civic focal point, a place to stay connected and a place that reflects the community’s commitment to life-long learning.

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Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Suite 214, Lafayette, CA 94549-1472
www.lafayettelib.com