State Library Services has partnered with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to create several traveling tabletop exhibits that are loaned for free and distributed via the interlibrary loan service. In newsletters this August and September, we highlighted the exhibits available.

The response to these exhibits has been fantastic! This means, however, that the exhibits are booked through 2022 and no further bookings are available at this time. We will announce scheduling for 2023 next summer. In the meantime, please share photos of the exhibit at your library with Portable.Exhibit.Loans.MPCA@state.mn.us, or write to us with any questions that come up. Thank you for sharing these exhibits with your community!

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Oral Health Program, in collaboration with the Drinking Water Protection Program, is offering grants to fund the purchase of water-bottle filling units, or “hydration stations," in communities across Minnesota. 

Approved hydration stations promote health and address inequities in communities by:

• Maintaining optimal fluoride levels in drinking water to prevent tooth decay, or cavities
• Providing community members with no-cost alternatives to sugary drinks
• Removing lead and other contaminants associated with plumbing materials

Funds of up to $2,200 will be awarded for the purchase of approved hydration stations, mounting hardware, and replacement filters. Any Minnesota organization such as schools, community centers, libraries, etc., that receives water from a municipal community public water system (PWS) is eligible to apply.  

Applications must be received by 2 p.m. on Monday, November 29, 2021, and can be submitted electronically or by mail. Application materials and additional information are available at Drinking Water Protection Grant Information under "Hydration Station Grant." If you have questions, please contact Anita Smith and Andrew Karp.

This project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) State Actions to Improve Oral Health Outcomes (DP 1810) cooperative agreement.

I Am Rural America is part of The Voices and Faces Project’s Louder Together, a crowdsourced poetry project that seeks to create poetry and performance that speak to a range of human rights and social justice issues.

The Voices and Faces Project is joining with Justice for Migrant Women to solicit poetry submissions that speak to the statement “I Am Rural America” and shine a light on outdated notions of who represents rural North and South America. 

The Louder Together team at The Voices and Faces Project will weave together lines from accepted submissions to craft I Am Rural America, the second crowdsourced poem in the 2021 Louder Together poetry and performance series. Contributors will be fully credited. 

Submit for I Am Rural America. Submissions are due by January 1, 2022. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Aimee Noffsinger at abravo@voicesandfaces.org.