PRESS RELEASE
City of Porterville
291 N. Main Street
Porterville, CA 93257
For more information contact:
Yuriko Velarde, Administrative Analyst
yvelarde@ci.porterville.ca.us
September 14, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CITY OF PORTERVILLE RECEIVES $7.26 MILLION CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY GRANT FOR NEW LIBRARY
The City of Porterville is very pleased to announce its selection as a recipient of a highly competitive California State Library grant for $7.26 million toward the development of the new Porterville Library. The City was selected after a rigorous selection process by the State Library as part of its Building Forward Library Infrastructure Grant Program. The City sincerely appreciates both State Senator Melissa Hurtado and State Assemblyman Devon Mathis for their personal support for the City’s grant application. The grant award addresses funds for life-safety and critical maintenance needs of library buildings, especially for libraries serving identified underserved areas of the state. The funding from this award will go directly towards the construction of the new permanent library after the prior library facility’s catastrophic loss from an arson fire on February 18, 2020, which also claimed the lives of Fire Captain Ramon “Ray” Figueroa and Firefighter Patrick Jones.
Construction for the new library is anticipated to begin in late 2023 or early 2024 and will be located on Olive Avenue across from the South County Justice Center, which will form part of the Santa Fe Byway activity area. While the Temporary Library at 50 W. Olive Avenue has been well received by the community after its opening on July 1, 2022, the need for a larger library facility is still necessary. The planned new facility is proposed to include 40,000-square feet of space and is estimated to cost up to $30 million. The proposed new facility is based upon a Needs Assessment that was completed in 2021, which included input from the community based on surveys and focus groups. The remaining funding toward construction will come from various sources including, fire loss insurance proceeds, federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, private donations, and the City will continue to seek other potential federal and State funding opportunities.
