Reading Everywhere Action Grants

The Oakland Literacy Coalition’s Reading Everywhere Action Grants support community members and organizations to do creative and engaging literacy activities with youth 0-18 outside of school time that cultivate a shared culture of reading across Oakland. 

What Are Action Grants

The OLC promotes the joy of reading by providing grant funds and books to those doing creative and engaging literacy activities with Oakland youth outside of school time. Action Grants are part of our Reading Everywhere program, because we share the value of children reading and talking about books not only at school, but all through their day – on the bus, at their after school program, at the park, at mosque, temple or church, and at home.  

Action Grants now align with our Oakland is a Reading Town campaign, focused on making reading visible, joyful, and meaningful for every young person in Oakland, and supporting adults to read with them.  We provide new, high-interest books for your students, and grantees selected this cycle will receive $500 to cover project expenses, including food, author visits, and supplies.

Potential projects could look like:

• A series of activities over a few months, an informal gathering, or bringing people together at a community event. A formal event is not required.
• Reading block party: a community event with a storytelling stage for read-alouds, space to read and eat, and time for book discussions
• Book tastings: program staff set up the space with books grouped by genre, and families rotate through each genre to get a taste of those books. In later sessions, families read the books and talk about them (example from Edutopia)

Click here for more project ideas

These projects are just examples of the diverse and creative ways that Oaklanders incorporate talking about books into their community activities. We welcome your creative ideas!

New for the 2026-27 School Year: 

Grant Priorities: We will support various kinds of projects that go beyond book distributions, prioritizing those that bring youth and adults together around a love of reading and learning together. Strong applications will describe how youth and adults will:

• Talk about books (share ideas, opinions, and recommendations)
• Read together (through read-alouds, partner reading, or small groups)
• Respond to books in engaging and creative ways

Special consideration will be given to projects focused on building children’s and families knowledge about animals, plants, machines and the environment. 

New process:
In two required, in person workshops, grantees will learn and collaborate with other grantees.
After completing both workshops, grantees will receive their checks and choose books from the OLC book room to use in their activities.

New focus: Building Knowledge through Books
In the workshops, we’ll explore how children’s natural curiosity about the world can support reading and learning. We’ll emphasize engaging nonfiction and STEM-related books about topics like animals, weather, space, vehicles, machines, and the natural world.

The OLC will curate fiction and nonfiction books about topics like animals, food, extreme weather, vehicles and machines that grantees can use in their activities.

Who Should Apply?

• Community programs play a critical role in fostering a shared culture of reading and providing access to books. You are eligible to apply if you’re a:
• Oakland-based community organizations and faith-based groups that work with children from preschool through high school (0-18 years old)
• Informal neighborhood or cultural groups, childcare providers and individual literacy champions.
• Anyone from the above groups who is committed to engaging deeply with literacy in a new way. 
• Your project serves Oakland students during the 2026-2027 School Year. 
• If you received an Action Grant in Summer 2026, you must submit your grant report before applying for this cycle. 
• Please note that schools and school-based programs are not eligible for Action Grants.
• We believe literacy happens everywhere and want to collaborate with various groups to reach kids where they are. We welcome projects that promote literacy in languages other than English

Important Details and Dates

• Applications for the 2026 – 2027 School Year grant cycle will be released on October 13, 2026 and can be submitted online anytime until November 6 by 11:59 pm.
• Each participating student must receive at least one new book to keep. 
• Grantees will need to come to the OLC office (2744 E 11th Street) for two in person workshops and to pick up books. We will work with those selected to receive grants to schedule dates between January 19 – February 12, 2027.
• Projects can take place between February 15 – May 15, 2027.
• Grantees will be asked to submit a short report by June 4, 2027.
• Grant funds can be used for various project activities, including food and supplies.

For any questions or additional information, feel free to reach out to us at julia@oaklandliteracycoalition.org.