43
DIBS for Kids
1111 N. 13th St. Ste. 426 Omaha, NE 68102
www.dibsforkids.org
Facebook: dibsforkids; Twitter: dibsforkids; Instagram: dibsforkids; LinkedIn: dibs-for-kids
Angie Miller
Executive Director
angie@dibsforkids.com
+1 (402) 960-3681
Yes
DIBS for Kids is led by our Board of Directors. Our Board of nine consists of six women and three men, who represent a variety of generations, socio-economic backgrounds, education, and career pathways. Some work in the same communities in which DIBS works (e.g. Director of Administration at NorthStar Foundation, Director of Development at Together, Inc.) and therefore are deeply familiar with the challenges and opportunities in the community. Others, like our Board chair, have previous board experience with collective impact organizations like MAACH. Our Vice Chair is the Vice President of Donor Services at the Omaha Community Foundation and is very familiar with the Omaha philanthropic community and Omaha needs through The Landscape. Others are former teachers, through Teach for America and in Iowa public school systems, while others are entrepreneurs who live and work in the very communities we serve. Angie Miller, J.D. is the Executive Director of DIBS. Ms. Miller began her career as a practicing attorney in Omaha and transitioned to nonprofit management nearly ten years ago. Her nonprofit background includes roles as Program Director at Legal Aid of Nebraska, Director of Finance and Administration, and later Chief Operating Officer, at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, and Executive Director of MilkWorks. Ms. Miller’s nonprofit experience includes managing local, regional, and national grants, including state and federal grants, multi-million dollar capital campaigns, and ongoing financial and operational management. Ms. Miller has been the Executive Director of DIBS since July 2021. In that time, DIBS has been named a 2022 Library of Congress Literacy Practices Honoree and 2021 Reimagine Education Accessibility and Sustainability finalist, while also leading DIBS growth throughout a three-state region, including fee-for-service contracts and expanded and diversified philanthropic funding. Marie Kovar, Ed.S., is the Program Director at DIBS. Ms. Kovar began her career as a bilingual school psychologist at Omaha Public Schools. She joined DIBS as a volunteer seven years ago; in that time, her role has grown to managing the over 4,500 students annually enrolled in DIBS in 20 OPS schools, as well as six other schools in three states. Ms. Kovar supervises the school support coordinators and ensures program fidelity and continuous program improvement. DIBS has two significant contractors in this proposal: Volano Custom Software and ECreative. Volano, headquartered in Omaha’s MasterCraft building, is a long-standing partner with DIBS in the development and maintenance of our custom-software system. Volano’s team has deep expertise in our software system, as they have built and currently maintain the code. Because of our partnership, Volano and DIBS have developed a very effective working relationship for conceptualizing, iterating, and testing software that is cost-effective and solution-oriented. ECreative, also in the MasterCraft building, is DIBS long-standing marketing partner. Led by a Latinx-woman, Esther Mejia, and the bilingual staff at ECreative, has helped DIBS craft its annual reports, marketing voice, and marketing assets. Like Volano, the ECreative team is deeply familiar with DIBS’ mission and work, while also living in and understanding the community we serve.
Please see attached organizational chart.
Everyone reading this application is literate; your literacy is one of the most important foundations to your academic achievement, career aspirations, and lifelong outcomes. It is also a critical foundation to your access to healthcare and ongoing health, your economic opportunities, and your ability to provide generational wealth transfer to your children and communities. Literacy has the power to positively change the trajectories of our lives and our community. Jason Reynolds said it best: “Books are batteries that power imagination, so to rob children of the access to books is to, quite literally, short-circuit the mainframe of the future.” DIBS (Delivering Infinite Book Shelves) for Kids was founded in January 2012 with a straightforward mission: that every elementary school child have a book to take home every night to read independently to give children the joy and skills in reading. Since then, DIBS has evolved from a spreadsheet and small stack of donated books in the back of a North Omaha classroom to a comprehensive program providing access to books with custom-built software, over 50,000 books - each affixed with a unique QR-code, including over 5,000 in Spanish and five other languages - serving over 4,500 students in 20 Omaha Public Schools (as well as 6 other school districts in three states). Of the 34 OPS elementary schools with an enrollment area completely or partially in the QCTs, 15 are currently served by DIBS. As of October 7, 2022, DIBS has sent home over 820,000 books to over 12,000 students and is on pace to send home over 1 million books since 2012 by May 2023. Each morning, students select a fun, diverse and age appropriate book directly from one of six DIBS book bins in their classroom. Then using DIBS’ custom built, web-based software, they select their unique avatar, and hold up their book to the wifi-enabled device with a camera to read the QR-code, and take their book home in their DIBS-provided student folder. The next day, students check-in their book by scanning the QR-code, and proceed to select their next book and start the process over again. Once a classroom begins DIBS, each student takes home on average three books per week. DIBS is shown to improve reading proficiency scores. Prior to the pandemic, DIBS students had statistically significantly improved reading proficiency scores compared to similarly-situated students who did not have DIBS. Now, post-pandemic, DIBS students are still making positive gains in reading proficiency compared to their peers, although students have, on average, nearly two years of learning loss. Most importantly, DIBS has buy-in from teachers, students, and families. Over 97% of teachers intend to use DIBS year-over-year in their classrooms and would recommend DIBS to fellow teachers. Teachers and families also overwhelmingly report that students are more confident readers, more motivated and excited to read, and reading independently. Sixty-eight percent of parents reported their children spend an hour or more reading independently each week and 77% reported their children spend an hour or more reading with an adult each week. As the research and our own experience shows, if students believe they can read, and have the books to do so, they will read.
Delivering Infinite Book Shelves for Kids throughout North and South Omaha
1245186.0
924186.0
Combination of capital project and service/program
Transformational, fundamental, and long-lasting change requires investment in all generations, including our youngest community members. DIBS’ proposal is three-fold: (1) expand our current programming in 15 currently-served schools in the QCTs from K-3 grades to include 4-5 grades to prevent further pandemic-related learning loss; (2) expand our in-school, community-based programming to an additional 50 classrooms in QCTs; and (3) expand our office space to support the above proposals as well as to provide continuous, year-round literacy support to families who live in Omaha’s most severe book deserts. This growth in programming has been within DIBS’ long-term strategic priorities; we are asking for funds to accelerate those priorities due to the pressing need for early literacy support throughout North and South Omaha. Our proposal will allow DIBS to expand its reach in sending home books for nightly, independent reading, while also adding supports including, but not limited to: (1) providing in-person, no-cost literacy tutoring and support during out of school time for all elementary school children within the QCTs, not just those in DIBS schools; (2) expand current programming so DIBS in QCTs students can receive books for independent reading during out of school time for two more grades; (3) make available our extensive collection of English, Spanish, Karen/Karenni, Nepali, Somali, Pashto, and Dari books to community members; and (4) provide well-paying, stable employment opportunities to community members that can encourage growth into teacher, librarian, STEM, non-profit management, and other careers, as well as supplemental employment opportunities for early education certified teachers. DIBS is committed to any physical location remaining in North and South Omaha. Our current office is adjacent to QCT 12 and, while a specific location for our expanded operations is not yet selected, DIBS would prioritize a location that is embedded within a larger community center or hub. DIBS has engaged in conversations with Together, Inc. and the Columbus Park Neighborhood, while also remaining flexible regarding where a specific space within the QCTs for DIBS could be located.
Please see the detailed attached timeline. Significant milestones, with dates, are below: March 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023: Research and selection of in-person programming location, dependent upon funding availability. July 1, 2023 to August 30, 2023: Engage architectural and interior design for selected location. July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023: Launch partnership with Volano Custom Software for software upgrades, using Agile practices, for development of software uses for tutoring, out of school time circulation, updated reporting, and security features. August 15, 2023 to September 15, 2023: Begin DIBS in 25 new classrooms in new schools and expand DIBS to 25 fourth and fifth grade classrooms in existing schools. October 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023: Interior build-out for selected location for expanded operations. October 1, 2023 to March 15, 2024: Launch partnership with ECreative for creation of marketing content, including family engagement evergreen content for reading proficiency and encouragement of family literacy time; website updates for marketing expanded services; development of exterior and interior signage for updated facility. January 1, 2024 to January 11, 2024: Move DIBS to the new location and hire office manager, tutors, and family engagement coordinators. January 11, 2024: Open new location to the public. March 1, 2024 to May 30, 2024: Recruit and launch cohort for one-on-one no-cost literacy tutoring. May 15, 2024 to July 30, 2024: Recruit and launch out of school time cohort for one-on-one no-cost literacy tutoring. July 1, 2024 to July 30, 2024: Finalize and review in-school external program evaluation results. August 15, 2024 to September 15, 2024: Begin DIBS in 25 new classrooms in new schools and expand DIBS to 25 fourth and fifth grade classrooms in existing schools. October 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024: Recruit and launch cohort for one-on-one no-cost literacy tutoring. May 15, 2025 to July 30, 2025: Recruit and launch out of school time cohort for one-on-one no-cost literacy tutoring. June 1, 2025 to July 30, 2025: Finalize and review in-school and literacy tutoring external program evaluation results.
1.0
Fundamental Change (i.e., a proposal that will continue to elevate North or South Omaha's presence and perception within the region, significantly improving the lives of area residents through physical development) Long-Lasting Economic Growth (i.e., a proposal that will foster gainful employment opportunities and financial investment in the area, leading to the creation of generational wealth and widespread economic vitality in North and South Omaha) Transformational (i.e., a proposal that will help energize, recharge, or spur significant and favorable advancements in North or South Omaha's function or appearance)
Sustainable Community (i.e., create or enhance housing, services, education, civic uses, recreation, etc.)
The third-grade reading proficiency gap is marked by historical and current inequities as the percentage of Nebraska White students to BIPOC students reading proficiently is a 20 to 30 percentage point gap. In 2019, 33% of OPS third-grade students read proficiency. However, 56% of White OPS third-graders read proficiently, compared to 29% Hispanic/Latino (-27%), 24% Black (-32%), 33% American Indian (-23%), 30% free and reduced lunch eligible (-26%), and 27% English Language Learners (-29%) students. In 2021, 29% of OPS third-grade students read proficiently, reflecting the learning loss from the pandemic. However, 48% of White OPS third-graders read proficiently, compared to 21% of Hispanic/Latino students (-27%), 19% Black (-29%), 29% American Indian (-19%), 22% free and reduced lunch eligible (-26%), and 20% English Language Learners (-28%). In the 34 schools located in the QCTs, 22% of students are reading proficiently by third grade, below the OPS average of 29%; in 16 of those schools, less than 20% of third-grade students are proficient. Thus, while the 20 to 30 point gap persisted throughout Omaha, it was worse in the QCTs and students who were historically disadvantaged are even more so post-pandemic. Alleviating book deserts and providing a plethora of books at all reading levels for children are crucial to transformational, fundamental, and long-lasting change, as access to books is critical for achieving third-grade reading proficiency. One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade do not graduate high school on time. For children who were low-income for at least a year and not reading proficiently in third grade, 26% did not finish school. The rate was highest for low-income black (31%) and Hispanic (33%) students. Workers without a high school diploma have the lowest median weekly earnings ($592), three times less than the highest level of education. For incarcerated individuals, 75% did not complete high school and can be classified as low literate. Reading proficiency is crucial for academic success, and also has a tremendous impact on health and well-being. An article in The Lancet, an internationally respected, peer-reviewed medical journal, cites education as the most important modifiable social determinant of health. The authors state, "Education is strongly associated with life expectancy, morbidity, health behaviours, and educational attainment plays an important role in health by shaping opportunities, employment, and income." The causes for the above inequalities are multifactorial; a large factor is access to books. Over 60% of low-income children do not have a single age-appropriate book for independent reading at home. In Omaha, the QCTs are book deserts, meaning households have access to less than 100 books at home, which is the minimum needed for students to gain reading proficiency skills. Children need word recognition (e.g. phonological awareness and phonics) and language comprehension opportunities to develop reading skills. DIBS provides the language comprehension piece of reading development and proficiency. Language comprehension is the ability to understand different elements of spoken and written language, like sentence structure, grammar, background knowledge, and vocabulary. Language comprehension is built through consistent exposure to language and its structures, or in other words - books. Programs like DIBS are necessary to facilitate sustainable communities through enhancing education. Because the majority of low-income children do not have access to a multitude of age-appropriate, diverse, representative, and interesting books at home, they cannot build language comprehension, and therefore reading proficiency, without programs like DIBS. In addition, the pandemic showed us that reading proficiency takes years to obtain but mere months to set backwards by years, with generational consequences for communities.
The Visioning Workshop Summary highlights several specific gaps and community needs addressed by this proposal. First, education generally is consistently identified as a community need in North and South Omaha (pgs. A58; A62). That includes “educational systems [to keep] young people in neighborhood schools” and “educational development for community youth” for North Omaha (pg. 59) and “high quality education” (pg. A62) that “is a high ROI” (pg. A63) for South Omaha. DIBS provides support for educational attainment and opportunities with its focus on literacy, reading proficiency, and a vision for a location that can provide support and services during out of school time to all members to obtain reading proficiency. Additionally, DIBS will provide high-quality, high-paying job opportunities that create wealth and ownership (pgs. A60; A62). DIBS is “locally led” and pays “above median wages” and embraces “bilingual services”. (pg. A63). Current members of our staff are bilingual and DIBS anticipates significant job opportunities for community members fluent in Spanish and other languages. Second, DIBS aligns with specific gaps identified by the visioning sessions. North Omaha’s session identified “libraries & other public facilities” as a gap (pg. A58), as well as “significant investment in social dimensions” of health (pg. A60). DIBS, due to its extensive collection of approximately 5,000 Spanish and refugee language books, also provides “culturally appropriate programs” (pg. A62) that recognizes “what languages are spoken” so “the community directly benefits” (pg. A63).
Our proposal meets LB1024’s strategic priorities of transformation, fundamental change, and long-lasting economic growth. DIBS is a transformational program and recognized as such; DIBS is a 2022 Library of Congress Literacy Practices Honoree, 2020 National Book Foundation Innovations in Reading prize winner, and 2021 Reimage Education Accessibility and Sustainability division finalist. DIBS helps energize, spur, and recharge significant and favorable academic achievement through our efforts to support third-grade reading proficiency. We do this through significant community and school buy-in, as families, students, and teachers overwhelmingly report increased daily independent reading, gains in confidence and motivation to read, and excitement in discovering new ideas and topics to read about. That buy-in is evidenced by the quantitative results: in the 2019-2020 academic year, DIBS students saw statistically significant gains in their reading progression as measured by MAP testing. During the 2020-2021 year, DIBS was unable to be used due to virtual schooling and coming into the 2021-2022 school year, students had almost two years of learning loss. DIBS students, however, still showed positive gains compared to a similarly-situated cohort without DIBS; DIBS helped arrest further learning loss and is now working towards accelerating gains. Second, fundamental change is powered by DIBS. DIBS believes in the power of literacy and education, as do the residents of North and South Omaha as evidenced by the visioning workshops. The perception of North and South Omaha as lacking educational opportunities can be, and should be, elevated through increasing educational opportunities with generational impacts. The current percentage of high school graduates in the QCTs currently or proposed to be served by DIBS average 75.62%, well below the Omaha average of 89.8%. Literacy can help improve the high school graduation rate, providing positive perceptions and long-lasting fundamental, community-wide positive change. Finally, DIBS fosters gainful employment opportunities and financial investment in the area, leading to the creation of generational wealth and widespread economic vitality in North and South Omaha. In the short-term, DIBS provides high-paying employment opportunities which keep the wages in the local area, allowing for investment in the community, for the community. Second, because literacy is highly correlated with long-term academic and economic success, for every child that progresses towards reading proficiency by third grade, that child’s, and therefore community’s, long-term economic vitality are improved, sustained, and grow deeper roots.
DIBS anticipates the creation of five staff positions. Four of these positions will be coordinators, to assist community members with accessing our services, opening and closing the facility, managing inventory, and other program-based tasks; DIBS starting pay for a coordinator is $24/hour. DIBS also anticipates hiring an office manager, at a starting salary of $42,000 to $48,000 annually. Finally, DIBS will hire literacy tutors, at $40/hour; DIBS has budgeted for 500 hours per school year for literacy tutors.
5.5 FTE
At minimum, 12
$24/hour and above for coordinators. $42,000 to $48,000 for an office manager. $40/hour for literacy tutors. DIBS will pay competitive construction wages, based upon years of experience, bids, and whether located within QCTs.
Immediate opportunities including contracting and construction services for the family literacy center. DIBS is committed to finding contractors within the QCT community for construction needs, including the trades. Additionally, in our experience, ongoing maintenance needs will arise, including for HVAC, custodial, and similar services. Additionally, DIBS has multiple partnerships with businesses and contractors either located within or adjacent to the QCTs that will continue. DIBS partners with Volano Custom Software and ECreative, as discussed above. DIBS partners with both Volano and ECreative because both are also committed to providing opportunities for individuals that reside within the QCTs. Volano and ECreative have long-standing relationships with DIBS, so immediate and ongoing opportunities, during and after the grant period, will be available. In addition, DIBS partners with Learning for ALL (LFA), an adult literacy nonprofit in Omaha. DIBS provides LFA its software at no-cost to facilitate its adult literacy classes, which are used by many individuals, primarily immigrants and refugees, living in the QCTs. As DIBS continues its software development, LFA is able to better manage its own book inventory dispersed among its volunteer tutors and student progress towards English proficiency. DIBS would also make available expanded facilities for LFA tutoring, which could be the initial beginnings of a two-generation literacy program. Finally, DIBS is always seeking local authors and illustrators to include in its book collection, and especially native Spanish speakers. DIBS pays authors for their books and actively seeks opportunities to purchase books from local childrens’ authors and illustrators.
This proposal is a long-term, systemic, and upstream investment in the education of children. Literacy is central for high school graduation, college readiness and attainment, more diverse and greater economic opportunities, and healthier lives. DIBS sparks and expands students’ curiosity and knowledge on subjects ranging from cats and dogs, to trees and flowers, oceans and outer space, singing and dancing, colors and design, and more. DIBS, with an expanded facility, will also increase liveability in the community and improve the local neighborhood. The visioning workshops demonstrate the need, and want, of community spaces dedicated to improving education, increasing cultural reach and awareness, and providing spaces for families to interact and be together. Additionally, with the demographic trend of increasing Spanish-speaking and refugee students in OPS, bringing our 5,000 titles and counting Spanish and refugee language collections to the QCTs, where many native Spanish and refugee communities reside, will help families read together in their native language. Language acquisition in a person’s native language supports literacy proficiency in a second language. This proposal functions as part of placemaking, to allow liveability in the neighborhood, to build community, and investment in the community’s children. Literacy allows greater educational, civic, and neighborhood engagement from all members of the family and community, leading to safer neighborhoods, more entrepreneurial spirit, and increased cultural opportunities for all.
DIBS contributes to economic sustainability and ongoing quality of life for community members. Literacy is a foundation to high school graduation and the plethora of academic and economic opportunities after high school graduation. Individuals without a high school diploma were hardest hit by pandemic-related job losses, on top of already very low earnings. Literacy is a direct line to community sustainability through economic stability. DIBS also contributes to quality of life. Studies show 88% of incarcerated individuals are illiterate or have low literacy. Literacy mitigates incarceration because literate individuals have options for academic and economic success, including investing in their community, opening sustainable and successful businesses, and supporting their families. Literacy also contributes to quality of life through improved health outcomes. Education, and therefore literacy, is a social determinant of health. Third-grade reading literacy is so vital to improved health outcomes it is a Leading Health Indicator in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2030 public health objectives and goals. A person, and their family's quality of life is almost immeasurably improved by obtaining third-grade literacy.
DIBS is the innovative best practice for bringing books to schools and families in book deserts; there is no other program like it to our knowledge anywhere. DIBS was designed by a former teacher who saw his first-grade students improve two grade levels by providing a new, albeit black and white paper book, every night to read. While this was not sustainable in any way, it grew into DIBS, which leverages the best of classroom, school, and public libraries and book giveaways – access to books – without the barriers of time, transport, finances, limited quantities, and potentially limited diversity, interests, and types of literature. DIBS unites the necessity of student access to an “infinite” number of physical books, the efficiency of classroom distribution, and the power of custom-built circulation software that supports the two pillars of reading proficiency: word recognition and language comprehension. DIBS provides the system and resources for daily, independent, and equitable student access to high-quality, diverse and exciting books, autonomy in book selection, and a daily and nightly routine surrounding literature. DIBS is also an easy, student-led way to circulate books that maximizes instructional time and supports teachers by providing classroom libraries stocked with interesting, relevant and age-appropriate books at no cost. Access to books, especially books that can be self-selected for take-home reading, helps develop the word recognition and language comprehension necessary for reading comprehension and proficiency. However, this practice is not widespread. Classroom libraries, many with outdated, non-diverse and/or of limited book quantity, are available in only 43% of classrooms. School libraries are not typically accessible daily and public library access is highly dependent upon living in non-impoverished neighborhoods with independent transportation. DIBS is nearing one million books circulated since January 2012. Our scalable and replicable program model can, and does, work in any school district, all while DIBS remains headquartered in Omaha.
DIBS will measure the following outcomes: Changes in family, student, and teacher attitudes regarding confidence, motivation, and desire to read independently Increased daily minutes of independent reading by students Growth in reading proficiency and progress towards reading proficiency, as measured by MAP and NSCAS scores Number of books distributed for nightly at-home reading from in-school and family literacy centers Creation of at least two full-time equivalent new job opportunities at higher than median wages for the community Increase in book circulation, alleviating book deserts
DIBS will measure the above both internally and externally. Internally, DIBS has built a custom software solution that provides end-to-end management of our book selection and inventory using unique QR-codes affixed to each book. DIBS software can report, at a glance, how many and what books are currently in circulation at the school district, school, classroom, and student level. Additionally, DIBS engages in ongoing surveys and continuous feedback loops to enhance and improve our programming. Externally, DIBS partners with Category One Consulting (C1C) to conduct a rigorous, external program evaluation. This currently includes a three-year external impact evaluation to formally evaluate our program and isolate the impact of DIBS on reading proficiency and reading gains in kindergarten through third grade as determined by school district and state assessments; the second year of that evaluation is during the 2022-2023 school year. The C1C impact evaluation is led by Amy McFeely, Ph.D. and Chris Fitch, M.A., both with extensive experience in impact and program evaluation in partnership with Omaha Public Schools, where DIBS is conducting its evaluation. The external program evaluation is a three-step process: evaluation design, measurement development, and impact evaluation. DIBS is in the second year of the impact evaluation. The goal is to have definitive information on DIBS’ impact on reading proficiency, how to more accurately measure student involvement, and see what factors could increase participation. This project can then be used as a foundation for a more in depth impact evaluation in the future.
Yes. DIBS is prioritizing a location that would be a co-location for the ownership entity. DIBS interest in leasing would allow that type of co-investment. Second, DIBS is actively scaling its program, through a mix of philanthropic investment and fee-for-service contracts. Those investments and contracts are within and outside the Omaha area. Because Omaha will always be home for DIBS, the growth of our program allows DIBS to grow its staffing numbers and amplify those investments throughout North and South Omaha.
Yes
DIBS partners with Omaha Public Schools for its in-school programming, both current and prospective. DIBS works closely with OPS administration, school leadership, and teachers to develop and implement our program. Those relationships have seen DIBS add full Spanish book sets to our collection, as well as books in Karen, Dari, Nepali, Pashto, and Somali, to reflect the student population of the schools. Throughout the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, DIBS also responded to teacher needs for more early and emergent reader books, to reflect the needs of students post-pandemic; DIBS has added hundreds of these books into classrooms, especially in second and third grade. In-school programming is 100% philanthropically funded, with major funders including Amy L. Scott Foundation, Kiewit Companies Foundation, Lozier Foundation, Omaha Community Foundation, Shakhir and Kristin Saxena Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, and Weitz Family Foundation. The above are long-standing partnerships for DIBS in-school programming and are anticipated to continue supporting DIBS in OPS elementary schools, including those fully or partially in QCTs.
For OPS, DIBS has partnership agreements for every school we serve, as well as MOUs on data privacy and sharing and insurance coverage requirements. DIBS has ongoing grant agreements and contracts with the above funders.
No
While currently unavailable, DIBS prioritizes remaining within the QCTs and within a larger community center or hub.
Within one or more QCTs
Yes
No
No
Cost estaimates were determined through previous experience in nonprofit capital facility improvements, as well as based upon a request for leasehold improvements requiring interior build-out only.
No
Please see the itemized budget for line-by-line rationale. DIBS is requesting $924,186 from these funds to accelerate its programmatic growth to combat the pandemic-related learning loss and generational inequities in reading proficiency. DIBS has 25% of the project already committed, pending, or anticipated. The largest expenses are staffing and book purchases. Staffing is needed to ensure support to teachers and schools throughout the school year. DIBS has learned that when a school support coordinator visits a classroom every two to three weeks, teachers can maintain at least three books per week going home for independent reading, which is a critical threshold for improving reading proficiency scores. In addition, DIBS is seeking staffing for its expanded facilities and for tutors, to ensure families and children throughout the QCTs can access our book collections and receive support and services. The second largest expense is books. Combating book deserts requires books and as such, this proposal contemplates the purchase of 42,000 books, for an average cost of $7.82/book. While DIBS has partnerships with Scholastic Publishing, the Bookworm, and other independent publishers to minimize book acquisition expense, books and paper supply chain shortages and costs have risen. However, because books are a reusable resource, each book lasts on average three to five years in our collection. Finally, remaining expenses are for contractor services to improve capacity, infrastructure, and impact (i.e. software development and marketing contractors), as well as lower overall operating costs into the future (e.g. office printer) to ensure sustainability after LB1024 funds are expended.
LB1024 funds will be used for a combination of program expansion and capital improvements; please see the detailed budget for itemized information and details. DIBS will expand its in-school program to 50 additional OPS classrooms located in the QCTs. This expansion will be for K-3 grades, allowing each classroom to have 250 books, 6 book bins, 30 individual student folders, and use of our custom-software for student, teacher, and administrator use. Additionally, funds will be used to expand to fourth and fifth grades in 50 current DIBS classrooms in the QCTs, based upon known requests for such expansion. The fourth and fifth grade classrooms will receive 250 books, 6 book bins, 30 individual folders, and use of our custom-software. To support this expansion of in-school programming, DIBS will hire two school support coordinators. The coordinator positions provide in-person support to DIBS classrooms, to ensure program fidelity, technical support and assistance, managing and replenishing book inventory, managing internal data reports, and assisting with distribution of familial consent forms and surveys for the external program evaluation. DIBS will also expand its programming to provide, at no cost to families, reading and literacy tutoring support. In-person tutoring, when combined with access to a wide variety of texts at differing independent reading levels, is a proven and effective method of improving reading proficiency outcomes. DIBS estimates 25 hours of tutoring for 20 children per year will allow DIBS to start and grow a tutoring program to amplify the positive impact of DIBS current program. Capital improvements would also be one-time costs. The capital improvements are in two primary areas: (1) what would likely be leasehold improvements, and (2) software development improvements. The first, leasehold improvements, are concentrated on the design and construction of the family literacy center and staff offices, including architectural and interior design for creating a community-welcoming environment while selecting appropriate furnishings and equipment. The leasehold improvements lead to hiring an office manager and family engagement coordinators, who will provide support at the expanded location, while also providing ongoing information to families on literacy strategies, including through printed materials and in-person support. The second would be one-time software development costs to improve our custom-built software for expansion for in-person circulation of books. DIBS partners with an Omaha-based software development firm, Volano Custom Software, on our software development. Improvements are needed to ensure families and students who are not in DIBS-enrolled schools may still take advantage of DIBS, while DIBS uses the software improvements for integrating current data with new data for reporting, program evaluation, and program continuous improvement.
Yes
While DIBS is primarily philanthropically funded, DIBS has a long and stable history of increasing year-over-year funding from local, regional, and national funders. In addition, DIBS is beginning fee-for-service agreements for licensing its program and software; those agreements support our philanthropic programs and general operating costs. DIBS in-school programming is largely self-sustaining once the initial investment in books and book bins are purchased. The largest cost for DIBS, outside payroll, is purchasing of books for circulation and on average, each book lasts three to five years. Further, DIBS anticipates the tutoring program and family engagement coordinators can become self-sustaining through future philanthropic and fee-for-service support, once the initial investment is made in starting and marketing the program. Ongoing program costs through our business plan are therefore sustainable outside LB1024. For the capital investments, DIBS already has office space; building out an expanded footprint from the perspective of utilities and facilities costs would not be a wholly new expense. Additionally, software hosting and maintenance costs are minimal for DIBS. DIBS receives annual AWS cloud-hosting credits and has yet to exceed those credits, meaning DIBS does not need to cash flow cloud hosting. Additionally, because DIBS and Volano have an ongoing partnership, maintenance costs are minimal and billed at an at-cost rate; DIBS does not pay any monthly service fees or similar.
DIBS has no committed or currently pending funding sources for the capital improvements. For its programming, DIBS has the following committed sources within the QCTs: Kiewit Companies Foundation, Shakhir and Kristin Saxena Family Foundation, The Sherwood Foundation, William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, Kum & Go Foundation, IECA Foundation, Barklage Foundation DIBS also has the following currently pending funding requests for programming within the QCTs: Holland Foundation, Weitz Family Foundation, Amy L. Scott Foundation, Pacific Life Foundation, Olsson Foundation DIBS anticipates exploring funding for programming within the QCTs from the following sources in the next six months: Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services PHHS Block Grant (as sub-grantee), Olson Foundation
Amy L. Scott Foundation, $15,000 grant request, pending, expected decision in December 2022 Holland Foundation, $25,000 grant request, pending, expected decision in December 2022 Pacific Life Foundation, $7,500 grant request, pending, expected decision in December 2022 The Phillip and Terri Schrager Foundation, $15,000 grant request, pending, expected decision in December 2022 Weitz Family Foundation, $20,000 grant request, pending, expected decision in January 2023
Prior to availability of these funds, DIBS’ long-term strategic goals included all the elements of this proposal, but on a five to ten year timeline. On average, DIBS expands to approximately two OPS schools per academic year, one of which is in the QCTs; this proposal would allow DIBS to expand to six to eight, all in the QCTs, while also expanding existing schools in the QCTs to fourth and fifth grade. While DIBS would slowly incorporate the elements of the above over the next five to ten years, these funds would allow DIBS to accelerate our long-term goals, in the service of mitigating pandemic-related learning loss and generational lack of access to books and obtaining third-grade reading literacy.
This proposal is scalable and can be completed in smaller components.
DIBS’ proposal can be completed in four smaller components: (1) expansion to 50 new K-3 classrooms within the QCTs; (2) expansion to 50 fourth and fifth grade classrooms in exciting DIBS schools; (3) in-person literacy tutoring; and (4) capital expense for expanded physical space. The capital expense for software development is necessary for any of the above components and the in-person literacy tutoring is not possible without expanded physical space.
DIBS is financially committed to this proposal; 25% of this proposal is already raised or in progress. Further, DIBS is asking for pro rata support for expanding programming and physical space, as DIBS programming and facilities currently exist and any ARPA funding would be in addition to current financial commitment. DIBS is also not requesting funding for pre-existing programming, even in the QCTs, as a means of our financial support to this proposal; the requested ARPA funding is for new and expanded programming only.
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Organizational Chart Pro Forma Proposal Budget/Sources and Uses Schedule