This grant supports every OPL location and pays for programming, facility improvements, film licensing for public movie screenings, seeds for OPL seed libraries, parts and supplies for The Bike Fix, and extra funding for branches in high-priority neighborhoods. A special grant to the African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO) funds programs, exhibits, and equipment.

These grants pay honoraria to authors and speakers at adult programs, Adult Summer Reading program prizes, systemwide programs such as gardening workshops and digital literacy classes, OPL staff t-shirts, adult outreach supplies, promotional items, and more.

Teen Services grants pay for speaker honorariums, craft supplies, after-school snacks, teen furnishings, video game equipment, summer program prizes, the scholarship award and finalist prizes for the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate program, teen volunteer appreciation efforts, and more.

Administrative grants allow OPL to provide refreshments at staff meetings, participate in recruiting events, organize special staff trainings, make safety improvements, rebind valuable books, and pay for critical items that aren’t available through the City of Oakland. This grant also includes the annual Friends of the OPL scholarship, a competitive award open to OPL staff pursuing a master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

Friends of the OPL support allows OPL’s Community Relations team to document and promote all that the library offers. These grants pay for photography services, special programs, graphic design software, and adult volunteer appreciation.

Combined with donations from individuals and other organizations, this grant supports library programming for children and families throughout Oakland. The library’s most popular programs -- Kids’ Summer Reading and Winter Bingo -- would not be possible without this critical funding. These grants also pay for children’s outreach supplies and year-round enrichment programming.

On September 3, 2025, the Friends also approved $155,000 to support special library projects. These include a new Bike Fleet for library outreach, matching grants to support improvements at 81st Avenue and West Oakland branch libraries, the Main Library’s 75th Anniversary events in 2026, East Oakland library clean-up projects, and updates to the Main Library’s photo gallery.