This site and our state partnership activism are made possible with the support of Follett Learning. Their donor support lets us do targeted, smart, and effective outreach and activism wherever and whenever needed. With Follett's support, we can build on our successes and address this school librarian crisis in schools and districts nationwide. SaveSchoolLibrarians.org has one-click 'take action' capabilities that make it easy for concerned parents and stakeholders to make their voices heard for school libraries and librarians. The site will include the best training guides for local school library activists to build their own political and organizing power. But they don't have to do it alone. EveryLibrary is here to help advise on the right tactics to make change happen, and with Follett's support, we can put the power of social advertising to work, reaching and activating more potential local supporters than ever before.
The project's core are five advocacy partnerships between EveryLibrary and state school library associations. Our focus with each state organizational partner will differ, but each similarly focuses on bringing more school librarians back to schools and expanding funding equitably across schools and districts. With project partners like the Nevada Library Association and the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, there are bills in their legislatures to mandate school librarians in each school. We will work to bring out voters in support of those bills. With FAME, the Florida Association of Media Educators, and ISLMA, the Illinois School Library Media Association, we'll work to address the ongoing cuts that state budget choices are forcing on schools and districts. With our partners at the Washington Library Association and the Montana Library Association, we are working with them to anticipate big changes in the state funding formula for schools - and those changes need to include libraries and librarians.
EveryLibrary has been an active and engaged partner with local school library advocates in over a dozen communities this year alone. Our petition platform has helped find and activate thousands of local activists to contact their school boards and superintendents with a "save school librarians" message. Because of our donors, we can make a difference by engaging hundreds or thousands of local school library supporters in new and innovative ways and activating them to support their local school librarians. We are proud to have used these tools to fight against school library closures and librarian layoffs and won so many of them. The issues are the same from Chicago to Detroit to Virginia, down to Florida, and out to California: it's been too easy to cut school librarians for too long.
The last mile of any advocacy campaign is to get parents and local stakeholders to speak up for their school librarian and school library program. EveryLibrary is focused on doing just that through this digital platform.