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According to ALA President Cindy Hohl, "Now more than ever, policymakers need to have positive, personal connections with library advocates—preferably before they are approached with false narratives by library opponents. The Montrose Regional Library, CO, described how federal funding ensures that their rural library can help seniors, homeschool families, and those needing one-on-one help with job and food assistance applications; Carlsbad Public Library, NM, shared how federal grants made it possible for them to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots and laptops during the pandemic and funded an adult literacy program in their county, where one in three adults reads below a third grade level; a nursing college in New York wrote about their students who rely on Pell grants and federally funded student work programs, and the need for consistent funding to ensure they can remain in a program training them to fill critically needed medical roles. LJ's annual Budgets & Funding survey ("What's Up, What's Down," pp. 22–25) reveals an increasingly uncertain funding landscape, with libraries relying on state and federal grant funding for everything from professional development to supplementing materials budgets.
