Congratulations REFORMA 2022 Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants Winners! Each organization will receive $300 to support their Noche de Cuentos programs during Latino Heritage Month.

The Fairfield Lane Library / Celeste Swanson – Fairfield, OH

Hispanic Heritage Festival and Expo at the Fairfield Lane Library

Our Hispanic Heritage Festival and Expo will be an event for the entire family, showcasing the rich diversity within our community and the invaluable contributions of the Latin-American peoples, while we foster unity and the embracing of diverse cultures. We would use the grant money towards securing the performance of the Father/Daughter Mariachi Duo, El Alacrán de Durango y la Alacrancita. We understand the value of their performance lies in showcasing and celebrating the rich Mexican traditions of Storytelling through song, as well as Folkloric dance and costume.

Santa Clarita Public Library / Morgan Lazo – Santa Clarita, CA

Calaveras Literarias

The library will be working with the wonderful Dr. Gloria Arjona who will be bringing her Calaveras Literarias program to the Santa Clarita Public Library. In addition to the music, storytelling, and education about Día de Muertos that Dr. Arjona and her band will be providing, the library will provide fun craft kits celebrating Día de Muertos. The smaller children will have printed sugar skull masks that they can color in, and the older attendees will receive a kit to sew a lovely felt version of the sugar skulls. We will also provide a continuation of our very popular Cositas Ricas kit from last year’s Latin American Heritage month that offered safely pre-packaged snacks to try from various Latin-American countries. This kit will focus on snacks that come from Mexico and other countries with Día de Muertos traditions. The program will be in a park in order for the patrons to enjoy time outdoors with familia on a Sunday afternoon.

Bibliotequita Colibri / Argelia Ramirez – San Diego, CA

Noche de Cuentos de Animalitos y Monstruos

San Diego-Tijuana, singer/songwriter Anibal Mendez will perform songs by South American children’s music artists which can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Audience will engage in this interactive performance and with the music through choreography and singalong. The literacy component includes two stories aligned with the theme of the music, Animalitos y Monstruos, with stories that also originate in South America. This all-Spanish event will take place at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park as part of the new Bibliotequita Colibri programming, and also as our first in-person event ever.

Tulare Public Library / Carol Lovos – Tulare, CA

Noche de Cuentos with Liz Mangual

Liz Mangual is a bilingual storyteller who loves to perform in schools, libraries, community centers, and festivals across the country. One of her greatest joys is to travel from community to community meeting people of all cultures and sharing her love of stories. Tulare Public LIbrary was able to host a Noche de Cuentos with Liz virtually last year and are excited to offer an in-person Noche de Cuentos this fall. This event will be one of many celebratory programs in Tulare Public Library’s Hispanic Heritage Month: Cuentos y Comunidad.

REFORMA thanks the 2021 Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants Selection Committee:

• Celia Avila De Santiago, Senior Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, Public Relations Committee Co-Chair 2019-2022
  
• Maria F. Estrella, Chair of REFORMA’s Children’s and Young Adult Services Committee (CAYASC), Cleveland Public Library
  
• Laura Ishizaka, Senior Librarian of Community Services, Long Beach Public Library, REFORMA Los Angeles PR Team Member, JCLC 2022 Conference PR & Marketing Committee Member
  
• Sujei Lugo, Children’s Librarian, Boston Public Library
  
• Alma Plasencia, Adult Services Librarian, Salem Public Library (OR)
  
• Alma Ramos-McDermott, Media Specialist, Lake Trafford Elementary School, Immokalee, Florida, REFORMA National Secretary 2020-22, Former Chair REFORMA de Florida Vision 2020 Task Force, ALA Presidential Advisory Committee for Patty Wong 2021-22, 2007 Spectrum Scholar

The program coordinator is Madeline Peña, Digital Content Manager, Los Angeles Public Library, REFORMA President 2018-19, REFORMA Technology Committee Co-Chair, JCLC 2022 Steering Committee.

REFORMA believes that storytelling and oral traditions are key to the transmission and preservation of culture, as well as a significant tool in developing literacy skills. Noche de Cuentos was launched in 2010 to promote and preserve the art of storytelling within our Latino communities in the U.S.

If you would like to support future Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants, consider making a donation to REFORMA at reforma.org/donate.

¡Felicidades a los ganadores!

Congratulations REFORMA 2021 Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants Winners! Each organization will receive $300 to support their Noche de Cuentos programs during Latino Heritage Month.

The Fairfield Lane Library / Celeste Swanson – Fairfield, OH

Hispanic Heritage Festival and Expo at the Fairfield Lane Library

Our Hispanic Heritage Festival and Expo will be an event for the entire family, showcasing the rich diversity within our community and the invaluable contributions of the Latin-American peoples, while we foster unity and the embracing of diverse cultures. We would use the grant money towards securing the performance of the Father/Daughter Mariachi Duo, El Alacrán de Durango y la Alacrancita. We understand the value of their performance lies in showcasing and celebrating the rich Mexican traditions of Storytelling through song, as well as Folkloric dance and costume.

Santa Clarita Public Library / Morgan Lazo – Santa Clarita, CA

Calaveras Literarias

The library will be working with the wonderful Dr. Gloria Arjona who will be bringing her Calaveras Literarias program to the Santa Clarita Public Library. In addition to the music, storytelling, and education about Día de Muertos that Dr. Arjona and her band will be providing, the library will provide fun craft kits celebrating Día de Muertos. The smaller children will have printed sugar skull masks that they can color in, and the older attendees will receive a kit to sew a lovely felt version of the sugar skulls. We will also provide a continuation of our very popular Cositas Ricas kit from last year’s Latin American Heritage month that offered safely pre-packaged snacks to try from various Latin-American countries. This kit will focus on snacks that come from Mexico and other countries with Día de Muertos traditions. The program will be in a park in order for the patrons to enjoy time outdoors with familia on a Sunday afternoon.

Bibliotequita Colibri / Argelia Ramirez – San Diego, CA

Noche de Cuentos de Animalitos y Monstruos

San Diego-Tijuana, singer/songwriter Anibal Mendez will perform songs by South American children’s music artists which can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Audience will engage in this interactive performance and with the music through choreography and singalong. The literacy component includes two stories aligned with the theme of the music, Animalitos y Monstruos, with stories that also originate in South America. This all-Spanish event will take place at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park as part of the new Bibliotequita Colibri programming, and also as our first in-person event ever.

Tulare Public Library / Carol Lovos – Tulare, CA

Noche de Cuentos with Liz Mangual

Liz Mangual is a bilingual storyteller who loves to perform in schools, libraries, community centers, and festivals across the country. One of her greatest joys is to travel from community to community meeting people of all cultures and sharing her love of stories. Tulare Public LIbrary was able to host a Noche de Cuentos with Liz virtually last year and are excited to offer an in-person Noche de Cuentos this fall. This event will be one of many celebratory programs in Tulare Public Library’s Hispanic Heritage Month: Cuentos y Comunidad.

REFORMA thanks the 2021 Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants Selection Committee:

• Celia Avila De Santiago, Senior Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, Public Relations Committee Co-Chair 2019-2022
  
• Maria F. Estrella, Chair of REFORMA’s Children’s and Young Adult Services Committee (CAYASC), Cleveland Public Library
  
• Laura Ishizaka, Senior Librarian of Community Services, Long Beach Public Library, REFORMA Los Angeles PR Team Member, JCLC 2022 Conference PR & Marketing Committee Member
  
• Sujei Lugo, Children’s Librarian, Boston Public Library
  
• Alma Plasencia, Adult Services Librarian, Salem Public Library (OR)
  
• Alma Ramos-McDermott, Media Specialist, Lake Trafford Elementary School, Immokalee, Florida, REFORMA National Secretary 2020-22, Former Chair REFORMA de Florida Vision 2020 Task Force, ALA Presidential Advisory Committee for Patty Wong 2021-22, 2007 Spectrum Scholar

The program coordinator is Madeline Peña, Digital Content Manager, Los Angeles Public Library, REFORMA President 2018-19, REFORMA Technology Committee Co-Chair, JCLC 2022 Steering Committee.

REFORMA believes that storytelling and oral traditions are key to the transmission and preservation of culture, as well as a significant tool in developing literacy skills. Noche de Cuentos was launched in 2010 to promote and preserve the art of storytelling within our Latino communities in the U.S.

If you would like to support future Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants, consider making a donation to REFORMA at reforma.org/donate.

¡Felicidades a los ganadores!

The winners of the 2020 REFORMA Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants are:

Canyon Country Jo Anne Darcy Public Library / Zoraida Martinez – Santa Clarita, CA
Cuentos del Puente de Recuerdos
For this event we have attained the day with Juan Felipe Herrera, 2012 California Poet Laureate and 2015-2017 U.S. Poet Laureate. Juan Felipe has years of storytelling experience and will be presenting bilingual historias as well as reading some of his books. With the close proximity to Dia de los Muertos, this event will include stories of those that have passed in order to honor them and will hold some aspects of this day. We will have Grab-and-Go kits available earlier that day and people can work on their kits while “attending” this event. The kit will include sugar skulls that the families can decorate at home, tissue paper so they can make their own cempasuchil flowers, chocolate individually wrapped in order for families to make their own chocolatito caliente at home, and we will also have coloring and activity sheets for kids.

Newport Public Library / Laura Kimberly – Newport, OR
Noche de Cuentos
The Library will celebrate the power of storytelling to unite communities on Sunday, October 11 at 3 pm on Facebook Live called, Noche de Cuentos. This program is free and open to all ages. Local musician and craftsman Alex Llumiquinga is the hired storyteller and performer. Alex will be accompanied by a friend from the Guatemalan community in Newport to share the ancestral music, dance and culture of the indigenous people of the Andes. The focus is storytelling, which can be expressed through music, dance, and shared stories. The Library will be distributing a storytelling kit prior to the event, which will include a composition book, color pencils, a mini Spanish storybook, and a pencil.

Tulare Public Library / Carol Lovos – Tulare, CA
Noche de Cuentos: A Bilingual Evening for Families
Our Noche de Cuentos event will be the first of many programs in our 1st annual month long celebration Latinx @ the Library: Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. It will be a virtual program using Zoom. The bilingual event will open with a puppet show “Rubia and the Tres Osos” performed by library staff. Following the puppet show, will be one or more of the following performers: Jose Luis Orozco will perform a storytelling themed show featuring songs and stories in Spanish and English, storytellers Bob Kenagis and Liz Mangual, and/or storyteller Sandra Aguirre-Magana.

Fox River Valley Public Library / Monica Boyer – East Dundee, IL
Storytime with a Luchador
This program is designed to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with books such as Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales, Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza, and Friday Night Wrestle Fest by J.F Fox. Carlos Galli, owner of Galli Lucha Libre (Villa Park, IL), will suit up as a luchador and read two stories to our patrons. The storytime will feature one other luchador who will perform a demonstration of traditional wrestling moves and briefly review the history of Mexico’s most famous luchadores. This program will be filmed at Galli Lucha Libre and will air on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 10 a.m. via the Library’s YouTube and Facebook page.

Prince George’s County Memorial Library System / Vilma Sandoval-Sall – Prince George’s County, MD
Maya Weaving Alive!
the Library will partner with Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas to provide a virtual program titled Maya Weaving Alive! The Story of a Cultural and Artistic Tradition to launch the series Noche de Cuentos. The program will consist of three segments, and will be live or prerecorded. It will be presented by Julia Lopez and her daughter Vicky Cabrera, a local Maya family and members of the weaving cooperative Weaving for the Future/Tejiendo para el futuro. The program will include a read out loud of Abuela’s Weave by Omar S. Castañeda, the story of a young girl and her grandmother weaving and going to market together to sell their textiles.

Pomona Public Library / Anita Torres – Pomona, CA
Los Pollitos Dicen – Celebrate Latino Heritage With Us!
The event will feature a performance by the nationally recognized Latina Storyteller Olga Loya followed by a reading of the poem Los Pollitos Dicen and a singalong. The Librarian will then speak about the value of passing along cultural stories, and the opportunity to do so within the context of food. Librarian will share a story about how cultural storytelling and food impacted her life. They will then invite viewers to record short videos telling their own stories of culture and food, which can be shared via the Library, City, and/or advocacy groups social media.

San Diego County LGBTQ Latinx Coalition / Ady Huertas – San Diego, CA
Queer BIPOC Noche de Cuentos
This virtual event will feature an evening of storytelling from our Queer BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community. The night will be emceed by local Drag Queen Storytime Performers dressed as characters from traditional Latinx leyendas. Musical performances and poetry will kickoff the event.

Each organization will receive $300 to support their Noche de Cuentos programs during Latino Heritage Month.

REFORMA thanks the 2020 Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants Selection Committee:

• Stefanie Bailey, Youth Services, Las Vegas Clark County Library District
• Erin Downey Howerton, Youth Services Manager, Wichita Public Library
• Maria F. Estrella, Chair of REFORMA’s Children’s and Young Adult Services Committee (CAYASC), Cleveland Public Library
• Elisa Garcia, Unit Head-Teen Services Department, Bronx Library Center, The New York Public Library, Reforma Northeast Vice-President/ President Elect 2020-2021
• Lucia M. Gonzalez, Library Director, North Miami Public Library, Vice President/President Elect ALSC, REFORMA President 2010-11, Noche de Cuentos Founder 
• Emily Harris, Library Associate, Siouxland Libraries, Oak View Branch
• David Lopez, Marketing & Communications Librarian, OC Public Libraries, Western Region Chapter Representative REFORMA National 2017-2021
• Cristina E. Mitra, Family Engagement Coordinator, San Francisco Public Library?, 2009 Spectrum Scholar
• Alma Ramos-McDermott, Media Specialist, Lake Trafford Elementary School, Immokalee, Florida, REFORMA National Secretary 2020-22, Chair REFORMA de Florida Vision 2020 Task Force, 2007 Spectrum Scholar

The program coordinator was Madeline Peña, Digital Content Manager, Los Angeles Public Library, REFORMA President 2018-19, Technology Committee Co-Chair.

We thank everyone who applied for our Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grant Program—we received 15 eligible submissions (of a total of 22 submissions). If you would like to support future Noche de Cuentos Mini-Grants, consider making a donation to REFORMA at reforma.org/donate.

REFORMA believes that storytelling and oral traditions are key to the transmission and preservation of culture, as well as a significant tool in developing literacy skills. Noche de Cuentos was launched in 2010 to promote and preserve the art of storytelling within our Latino communities in the U.S.

¡Felicidades a los ganadores!

Celebrating the power of storytelling to unite communities. Featuring award-winning storytellers such as Neil Eduardo Izaza “Zien Cuentos” and Rosalía Pacheco in an enchanting evening of performances celebrating and affirming the richness of Latino heritage and culture. FREE.

Te esperamos en esta noche especial en la celebramos la riqueza de nuestras culturas y tradiciones con reconocidos cuentacuentos y narradores orales. GRATIS.