Expanding literacy, little by little.

Johnson County Adult Literacy Program is excited to announce plans for community-driven, community-built literacy center. Together with the Johnson County Board of Services and Sheltered Workshop, we have developed a project for the upcoming Inclusive Playground at Cave Hollow Park—a Little Free Library! Little Free Libraries are small bookstands popping up around the country that encourage communities to “Take a book, leave a book,” to develop literacy and a love of reading for all. Visit www.littlefreelibrary.org to learn more about the movement.

This project is especially exciting because of our unique approach to curating the library with books that represent authors and themes that are diverse. Cave Hollow’s Inclusive Playground aims to create a space where children of all abilities and differences can play together, read together, and be inclusive. The Little Free Library will provide stories about people with a range of different abilities, talents, and frustrations to invite learning and reflection about how each of us can be more inclusive. Here's our book list!

We have been lucky to receive local support for this project. Lowe’s Home Improvement has donated the wood and primer to begin building, and the Johnson County Sheltered Workshop’s wood shop will be designing and building the library itself. Trails Regional Library has offered to donate gently used books. We have started a fundraising campaign to cover the rest of the needed materials, including book stamps, licensing, maintenance, and an opening celebration. Details for this event will be announced soon!

As Johnson County's only volunteer literacy organization, JCALP is excited to establish this library as a mini literacy center in the heart of the county. We would greatly appreciate donations to the program for the continued maintenance of this library and to our JCALP office for the positive outreach and instruction provided to Johnson County adults (and children) at no cost to the learner. If you would like to make a donation, we have a list of neurodiverse books available here, or if you prefer to make a direct monetary donation, click on the PayPal button at the top of the site for a secure payment. We thank you so much!