DATE: December 3, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Library & Cultural Arts Department
TITLE: ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS FROM CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION TO CONTINUE LUNCH AT THE LIBRARY SERVICES
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council accept $34,200 in grant funds from California Library Association, awarded to the City to support Lunch at the Library services, and appropriate these funds to the Library & Cultural Arts Department.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Lunch at the Library is a project of the California State Library (CSL), supported with funds from the State of California and developed by the California Library Association (CLA) and the California Summer Meal Coalition, with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It provides California libraries with the opportunity to apply for funds that will support existing free meal and food distribution sites and promote literacy, health, and well-being enrichment activities at these locations.
Since 2018, the Library has received Lunch at the Library award funds to enhance meal programming, promote early learning, and to educate families about healthy nutrition at the Library and at existing free meal and distribution sites for youth throughout Oceanside.
Funding has been reduced statewide, and the City has now been awarded CLA grant funds in the lesser amount of $34,200, as part of the 2025-2026 Lunch at the Library Partner Project, to provide programming support for ages 0 to 18 at the Civic Center and John Landes Community Center Libraries, and other community food distribution sites throughout the school year. These funds will be used to support after-school and summer programming efforts at Library meal sites, and pop-up youth activity programs at other locations in Oceanside, including the Libby Lake, Crown Heights, and Chavez Community Resource Centers, Joe Balderrama Park, and Melba Bishop Recreation Center. The Lunch at the Library Partner ...
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