325 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond, CA 94804-1659
Telephone: (510) 620-6555 Fax: (510) 620-6850 www.richmondlibrary.org COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT – Library/LEAP Division
RICHMOND PUBLIC LIBRARY
Kate Eppler
Deputy Director of Community Services - Library
DATE: October 23, 2025
TO: City Manager Shasa Curl and Administrative Chief Patrick Seals
FROM: Kate Eppler
SUBJECT: Lunch at the Library Grant Application
The California State Library has invited Richmond Public Library to apply for funding to support 2026 ‘Lunch at the Library’ programming.
Lunch at the Library is a long-running grant program of the California State Library, with current annual funding of $3 million from the State of California. Funds support public libraries to provide summer meals at their library and/or pop-up library services at other USDA summer meal sites in the community.
Grants are non-competitive. In summer 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, the program supported 201 library meal sites, more than 1,000 library visits to other meal sites, and the purchase and distribution of 167,000 books for home libraries.
Richmond Public Library has received summer Lunch at the Library funding in the past. In previous years, our activities included providing lunch at the Main Library. Most recently, in 2022, the Library received $3,200 to provide books and programming at other community meal sites.
In 2026, the Library proposes to seek funding for book distribution and visits to existing meal sites. In 2025, there were 28 lunch sites throughout Richmond. To avoid duplication of effort, the Library plans to partner with existing local lunch sites to provide library cards, Library Summer Reading program information, ‘farm-to-summer’ food education (required by the grant), and free books to build home libraries. Grant funds will be applied toward the cost of books for giveaway.
Grant awards will be determined by the volume of applications the State Library receives. A table of 2024 funding levels and library activities, organized by county, is attached for reference and to give a sense of scale.
As the City Manager is the Authorized Representative for City grants, we respectfully request the Manager’s signature on the attached Application Certification, which must be submitted with our application no later than 12 pm on November 5, 2025.