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Nearly a year after it received a recommendation not to participate in the state literacy program, Del Norte Reads is using grant dollars from Klamath Promise Neighborhood to expand its services.

The goal is to eventually regain its California Library Literacy Services funding, Del Norte Reads Program Coordinator Terrin Musbach told Redwood Voice Community News. But since KPN will fund Del Norte Reads through 2026, Musbach said she and Del Norte Library Board members are identifying grants they can apply for beyond 2026.

“My work for next year is about identifying different partners — where we work together and can bring some of these resources together so we don’t have to depend on outsiders in the community,” Musbach said.

In addition to continuing to offer learner-centered help to adults, Del Norte Reads received $411,000 from Klamath Promise Neighborhood Grant to create a youth peer tutoring program. According to Musbach, Del Norte Reads is tasked with serving 144 school-aged students.

On Monday, the Del Norte County Library District Board of Trustees granted Del Norte Reads spending authority to purchase laptops, play furniture, upholstered chairs or small couches, cabinets or shelves, a projector, a smart screen with accessories and two iPads. The total cost was roughly $16,600. Del Norte Reads will be reimbursed with KPN dollars, according to Library Director Beth Questchke.

The Board of Trustees also approved a policy for employing its youth tutors. According to Quetschke, the policy outlines the tutors’ duties and how their hiring will work.

During the meeting, Trustee Meaghan McGlasson mentioned Del Norte Reads’ decision not to participate in the state literacy program.

“Under the CLLS grant that we’re not participating in this year, we would not have been able to purchase all this,” she said. “I know some people are upset that we are not participating in CLLS this year, but KPN gives us a lot more flexibility and some durable equipment that’s going to set this program up for success for several years to come.”

The KPN grant comes to Del Norte Reads as it continues to work with the California State Library to address concerns it raised about unspent grant funds from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal years.

Musbach said she submitted a report to the California State Library accounting for the 2024-25 fiscal year. A member of the Del Norte County Library Board of Trustees, Helen Duvernay, is working with new librarian Beth Quetschke and a new bookkeeper to “figure out what happened in ’23-24.”

In a report released April 7, CSL demanded the return of unspent CLLS dollars and recommended Del Norte Reads not participate in the state literacy program.

In its report, the California State Library stated that the Del Norte County Library District had at least $54,597 and up to $63,729 in unspent CLLS dollars out of a total of $127,245 awarded for fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24. 

The CSL, whose representatives had reviewed Del Norte Reads in October 2024, cited discrepancies in information the Del Norte County Library District provided during that review and subsequent information provided in its mid-year and final reports. 

CSL’s report stated that verbal information from library staff differed from what was provided during the October review and fund balances then-library director Phyllis Goodeill emailed to the state on March 17, 2025.

Two months later, Goodeill resigned, stating that she felt responsible for the loss of CLLS funding “because of mistakes that I made.”

“I don’t ever want to put myself or anyone else in that position again,” she told trustees at a May 20 meeting.

At that meeting, the library district board representative Andrew Napier said he felt the position should be salaried. 

Goodeill told trustees that her resignation would go into effect May 31, but agreed to stay on as interim director until a replacement was found.

According to Musbach, Goodeill submitted an audit of the 2023-24 fiscal year to the California State Library on Sept. 1. 

Questchke, who received a Masters of Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma and whose family lives in Brookings, began working for the Del Norte County Library District at the end of September. 

Though its CLLS funding has been suspended, Del Norte Reads will continue to offer learning-centered services to the community, Musbach said. This includes teaching people English and helping them prepare for and pass the U.S. citizenship examination.

But while these have been and will continue to be offered to adults, the KPN grant is bent on getting youth involved in the learning process. Musbach said she’s created a youth peer tutoring job description, while the Library Board is developing a policy for an adult who will work with those youth peers. 

The youth tutors will be able to help out in three different areas, Musbach said. They can be a homework helper, regularly being paired with another student to help with their homework. 

They can also meet regularly with another student to help them meet a specific goal, Musbach said, comparing that role to Del Norte Reads’ work with adults. 

“What this would be is a learner maybe says, ‘hey, I’m a fifth-grader reading at a third-grade reading level and I want to be at a fifth-grade reading level,” she said. 

A third role might be for a youth peer tutor to enhance children’s programs the library offers, Musbach said, using the Lego Club as an example.

“We would create a Lego doctor,” she said. “The Lego doctor would help set up the legos, they would help find Legos, read Lego directions during the Lego Club and at the end sanitize the Legos and put them away.”

Youth peer tutor may also help Del Norte Reads create new programs, including more literacy programs for the community, Musbach said. 

Musbach said if it wasn’t for KPN none of Del Norte Reads’ new programing would be possible.

“Our doors would be closed right now if it wasn’t for them,” she said. “They showed up for their community.”

For more information about the youth peer tutoring job opportunity, email dnreads@delnortecountylibrary.org or call (707) 238-2270.