KEYSTONE APPLICATION TRAINING OPPORTUNITY
If you plan to submit a Keystone grant this year, you are encouraged to attend one of three scheduled Keystone application workshops to review the program and the application contents. Sign up for a session on July 11, July 13, or July 19. Please share the registration link with any application collaborators from your library staff, library board, or the municipality which will be submitting your application. The 2024 Keystone Grants for Public Library Facilities grant round is set to open July 17, with applications due in October.
The Keystone application must be completed and submitted via the online eGrants platform. To access eGrants, the municipality submitting the application must obtain an Administrative Unit Number (AUN) from the Department of Education. Instructions may be found on the Register Your Municipality page. Once the AUN is obtained, the eGrants request form should be submitted to initiate access to the application. In addition, all eGrants users must create a Keystone login at MyPDESuite to access the eGrants platform. Other program information is available on the Get Ready to Apply page.
About the Keystone Grant
The Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund was established by an act of the General Assembly in 1993. The Department of Education, through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, Bureau of Library Development, administers the public library portion of this program which is funded from a portion of the state’s realty transfer tax.
Grants pay up to 50 percent of eligible costs in planning, acquisition, construction and rehabilitation of public libraries. A competitive grant application process is used to award grants to municipalities that sponsor state-aided public libraries. To be eligible, the project library must be receiving State Aid, and the municipal applicant must provide funding to the library in exchange for local library services. The sponsoring municipality and the board of the state-aided library should develop and submit the application cooperatively. The Keystone grant requires a dollar-for-dollar match. Grants may be requested in any amount up to $750,000.
Additional information may be found on the Keystone webpage, including grant guidelines and regulations which govern the program.
Questions about the program may be emailed to RA-Keystone@pa.gov or by calling Ed Lupico, Keystone Program Coordinator, at 717-783-5747.