Queens Library Nabs Grant

The program provides mentoring, homework help, school outreach, and special programming aimed at teens who are in need of positive role models and after-school activities, says library spokesman Joe Catrambone. Special seminars focus on career exploration, building self-esteem, creative writing, and health, and one-on-one online tutoring is available in real time from Tutor.com. The money also pays for a new young adult librarian at Far Rockaway to help coordinate the project and a youth counselor at the Peninsula branch.

The library system, along with Tutor.com, chose P.S. 43 because it was designated by the state as needing improvement, a requirement under President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.

"With staff devoted to [kids'] interests, we hope to create an atmosphere that not only welcomes them but provides help for all their needs, educational, recreational, and cultural," says Catrambone.