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Board approves $4.38M in NAZA youth-program contracts; updates Limitless Libraries MOU with MNPS
Summary
Anna Harutyunyan presented 21 NAZA contracts totaling $4,378,123.30 across 62 sites; the board approved the awards and a separate $22,400 amendment for Water Walkers. The board also approved an updated MOU with Metro Nashville Public Schools clarifying FERPA/data-security, opt-out procedures, collection targets and shared systems access.
The Nashville Public Library Board approved fiscal-year grant contracts for NAZA youth programming and an updated school-partnership MOU during the meeting.
Anna Harutyunyan presented a slate of 21 organizations selected from 25 applications for fiscal year 2027 NAZA contracts, detailing a total award amount of $4,378,123.30 to be distributed across 21 organizations and programming at 62 sites in Davidson County. Anna read the list aloud; award amounts included notable allocations such as $508,889 to Backfield in Motion, $411,481.50 to Metro Parks, $380,350 to Why We Can't Wait Inc., and $319,575 to Martha O'Bryan Center. Anna also said NAZA provides transportation funding (roughly $500,000) to help school-based programs transport children home.
"We have received 25 applications. We have accepted 21, three have been rejected, one has withdrawn," Anna said while reading the award list. The board moved and seconded approval; the contract slate was approved by voice vote.
The board then approved a $22,400 amendment to add summer funding for Water Walkers so the organization could serve 20 young people in June; that amendment was likewise moved, seconded and passed by voice vote.
Separately, Sarita presented an updated 10-year memorandum of understanding between the library's Limitless Libraries program and Metro Nashville Public Schools. The MOU revisions add explicit legal and data-security language (including FERPA-related requirements and opt-out language for parents), clarify the Tennessee Public Records Act implications for shared collections, and adjust collection-development targets: MNPS Library Services will aim to cover 10.5 items per student as the state standard, and Limitless Libraries will supplement with 7.5 items, bringing a school library toward an 18-items-per-student target (including digital content). Sarita told the board that pooled purchasing and library collection development practices save MNPS about $650,000 compared with independent buying.
The MOU also documents the technical integration: a daily data load into shared systems, Power BI access paid by MNPS, and a dedicated shared-systems team (led by James, the library systems librarian) to manage data security and interface issues. Sarita noted the MOU adds communication protocols for opt-outs and for handling materials a school removes from its collection under school policy.
The board asked technical and compliance questions; Sarita and staff confirmed shared-systems staffing and a 24-hour daily data load process are in place. The board moved and seconded approval of the updated MOU; the motion passed by voice vote.
Next steps included executing the Metro contract for the NAZA slate and implementing the MOU provisions with MNPS; staff said they will notify partner organizations and begin contract execution and monitoring.
Vote details: all approvals were recorded as voice votes; the transcript did not record individual roll-call tallies.
