Making the Connection
September 23, 2021 // South Dakota Fund Grants
“This grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation will fund the Network Upgrade Project, which will allow the Redfield Carnegie Library to upgrade its wired and wireless internet.”
Sarah Jones-Lutter, Library Director, Redfield Carnegie Library
The Redfield Carnegie Library was built in 1902 and is the oldest continuous Carnegie library in South Dakota. It is the sole public library in Redfield serving its 2300 residents six days a week. The Library is the only location in the city of Redfield to provide free use of desktop computers and access to WiFi. While modernization efforts have been on-going throughout the years, the last time its wireless and wired internet network was upgraded was in 2008. Their existing network was not able to keep up with the increased demand for accessible internet that resulted from the COVID pandemic.
The South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) provided a $5,000 South Dakota Fund grant to the Redfield Carnegie Library. This grant provided support to help upgrade their existing network.
“This grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation will fund the Network Upgrade Project, which will allow the Redfield Carnegie Library to upgrade its wired and wireless internet, so that users will no longer have issues accessing the internet quickly and efficiently”, stated Sarah Jones-Lutter, Library Director, Redfield Carnegie Library.
“The pandemic resulted in many people feeling incredibly isolated”, said Ginger Niemann, Senior Program Officer, SDCF. “Fast, reliable and accessible internet services helped connect people and gave everyone access to valuable and necessary information.”
To learn more about funding opportunities offered by the SDCF, please visit our website at https://www.sdcommunityfoundation.org/
About the SDCF
SDCF is a public non-profit organization established in 1987. SDCF, with offices in Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Aberdeen administers over 1050 funds benefiting hundreds of charitable organizations annually. The Foundation distributed nearly $18 million in grants in 2020 which made a tremendous difference in communities statewide. This would not have been possible without the generosity of our donors. If you have a specific cause you would like to support or would prefer to give for the general good of our state, please visit https://sdcommunityfoundation.org/giving to learn more or call 1-800-888-1842.