City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: Kevin Werner, City Administrator
Date: 09/12/2023
Subject: Poet Laureate
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
If the City Council is interested in moving forward with a City Poet Laureate grant program from the Library and Literacy Foundation of San Joaquin County (“Foundation”), authorize staff to prepare an agreement with the Foundation to receive grant funding and move forward with a City Poet Laureate program.
BACKGROUND:
The Foundation – a philanthropic organization administered by the San Joaquin Community Foundation – has expressed an interest in providing a $15,000 grant over the next three years to the City of Ripon, to help establish its’ first City Poet Laureate.
Many cities throughout the state and nation have established City Poet Laureates to inspire and remind local communities about the power and beauty of poetry and the importance of literacy in our communities and schools. The Board of Directors of the Foundation believes that a poet laureate program also invests in each city’s human capital and talent to build its capacity for advocacy for reading and the literary arts. In 2020, the Board pre-approved funding to all cities in San Joaquin County to establish City Poet Laurate Programs. Since then, the Board has been successful in providing grant funding to establish poet laureate programs for the City of Lodi, the City of Manteca, and is currently working with the City of Tracy.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
The proposed program will run for a three-year term, with a budget of $15,000 over the three years. The program will be evaluated after three years to assess its effectiveness and potential for future growth. To receive the grant from the Foundation, the program will need to include a minimum of four to six events each year, such as:
1. Composing one poem per year dedicated to the City of Ripon and reading at a City Council meeting.
2. Partnering with the Ripon Library to host teen events such as spoken word events, poetry slams, or book clubs.
3. Holding literacy events with the Ripon Unified School District.
4. Hosting early childhood literacy programs, including story time, at the Ripon Library.
5. Providing a free poetry workshop to the general public at the Ripon Library.
6. Hosting public readings of original poetry.
If the City Council is interested in moving forward with a City Poet Laureate program, the following outlines the City responsibilities, along with the basic framework of the program, for City Council’s consideration:
Enter into a Grant Agreement with the Foundation.
Staff to work with the Foundation on Grant Agreement language and bring back to the City Council at a future meeting for action.
Select a Poet Laureate
The City of Ripon Recreation Commission to advertise, interview, and recommend to the City Council an individual to serve as the City of Ripon Poet Laureate for the three-year term of the grant.
The Poet Laureate would need to live within the Ripon city limits.
The selected Poet Laureate to receive funding to complete the events as previously outlined. Staff suggests that the payment be split in equal annual payments at the end of each year of the program once an annual report is submitted to the City of Ripon showing the minimum program requirement of events has been completed.
Report on Grant Effectiveness.
A final report prepared by the City of Ripon that outlines the use of all grant funds and the activities that were completed is required to determine the effectiveness of the grant.
If the City Council is interested in moving forward with the grant to establish a City Poet Laureate, direct staff to move forward with the program as described above or with City Council modifications.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The administrative cost to administer this program is estimated to be less than $2,000. If the City Council wanted to offset these costs, grant funds could be used to do so.