Día Mini-Grants
Congratulations! REFORMA 2025 Día Mini-Grants Winners
We’re excited to announce the 2025 REFORMA Día Mini-Grants awards recipients. The winners were selected based on the program's creativity, level of community involvement, and impact of the project as it best highlights Latino/x/é authors, performers, and culture. Each winner will receive $500 to support a Día program.
- Newburgh Free Library / Yoly Avella
Newburgh, NY
Día de lectura familiar: Celebrando el Dia del Niño /Family Reading Day: A Day of the Child Celebration
- Palm Desert Library / Zoraida Martinez
Palm Desert, CA
Día de la Niñez/Day of the Kid
- Terrebonne Parish Library / Megan Hutchinson
Houma, LA
El Día de los Libros
- Denver Public Library / Nadia Rendon
Denver, CO
Criaturas y Creaciones
- Peninsula Book Collaborative / Raquel Espana
Daly City, CA
Dia de los Ninos con libros
- Lincoln Heights Branch Library, Los Angeles Public Library / Alejandra Q Reyes
Los Angeles, CA
Bilingual Selena Themed Storytime with Josue Cuentacuentos Bidi bidi bom bom!
Grant sponsored by the Los Angeles Chapter
REFORMA thanks the 2025 Día Mini-Grants Selection Committee:
- Crystle Ardoin, Catalog & Collection Development Tech, Temple Public Library
- Oscar Baeza, REFORMA National President 2021-2022
- Cynthia Bautista, Manager of Branch Services, Long Beach Public Library
- Maria F. Estrella, Founder of Young Diverse Readers Consulting
- Alma Ramos-McDermott, 5th-grade Teacher, Avalon Elementary, Naples Florida
The program coordinator is Madeline Peña Feliz, Associate Director for Community Engagement and Outreach at the Los Angeles Public Library; REFORMA President 2018-19, Awards Committee Chair.
We thank everyone who applied for our Día Mini-Grant Program. We received 10 eligible submissions.
El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. REFORMA is proud to be a founding partner of Día.
REFORMA is committed to supporting programming for Latino and Spanish-speaking communities through our Grants Programs. If you'd like to support future Mini-Grants, consider making a donation to REFORMA at reforma.org/donate.
¡Felicidades a los ganadores!
El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as
Día, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. REFORMA is proud to be a
founding partner of Día.
REFORMA will award up to 5 mini-grants of $500 to support a Día program that celebrates Latino/x/é culture.
The Los Angeles Chapter is sponsoring an additional Día mini-grant.
Eligibility Criteria
- Public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries, and community organizations in the United States including Puerto Rico are eligible to apply.
- The library or the person submitting the application must be a current member of REFORMA.
- Funds will be provided to pay for hired author/performer, and to support other related expenses such as books, publicity, materials, decorations, and refreshments - as specified in your proposal.
- The program must celebrate Latino/x/é culture.
- The program must take place in the month of April 2025.
- Winners must agree that publicity for their event will identify REFORMA as sponsor/partial sponsor.
- Winners must be willing to have their program featured on the REFORMA website, listserv, social media accounts, and Newsletter both in written and photographic detail. Winners must submit a final report by May 31, 2025.
- Winners must add their programs to the National Día Program Registry.
- The application must be received by 11:59 PM (PST) on February 12, 2025.
Additional Eligibility Criteria for the Los Angeles Chapter Mini-Grant
- The library or the person submitting the application must be a current member of the Los Angeles Chapter.
- The library/community organization must be within Los Angeles County in California.
- The winner must agree that publicity of their event will identify REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter as the sponsor/partial sponsor.
Application
The selection criteria will be based on:
- Creativity of the program
- How well it celebrates Latino/x/é culture, literature, and oral traditions
- Publicity plan and community involvement
Winners must submit a final report by May 31, 2025, to include:
- Photos of the event to post on the website/newsletter
- Number of participants
- Ages of participants
- List and description of activities
- Other information about the impact of the event on the community
Important dates and deadlines:
- Jan 15 - Feb 12 - Proposals will be received
- February - Proposals will be reviewed
- March 5 - Winners will be announced
- April 1-30 - Libraries will host programs
- May 31 - Reports due to the REFORMA
APPLICATION CLOSES FEBRUARY 12, 2025.