CANTON — Town Administrator Charles Doody, Library Director Andrea Capone, and Town Planner TJ Torres are pleased to announce that the Canton Public Library has been awarded $10,000 through the state’s Municipal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Improvement Grant Program to fund the purchase and installation of assisted listening devices in the library’s Community Room.
The funding will be used to purchase and install a Williams Sounds WF SYS3C Wave CAST with 12 available receivers. The devices will provide library patrons of all ages who have hearing difficulties the ability to more easily and fully participate in library programming, such as story times, music concerts, and lectures and lessons.
All library programs are presented to the public free of charge and there will be no user fees for the assisted listening devices.
The devices will be maintained by library staff who will be trained on how to activate, test, charge and clean the equipment.
“We’re proud to have received this grant to help us take this important step in our efforts to enhance accessibility of our programming and services,” Director Capone said. “Our Community Room is a modern and inviting space and increasing its accessibility through the assisted listening devices will help to ensure that we can welcome even more community members to the space. We are grateful to the state’s Office on Disability for its support of this project.”
The Municipal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Improvement Grant Program is offered by the Massachusetts Office on Disability. The grants support capital improvements specifically dedicated to improving programmatic access and/or removing barriers encountered by persons with disabilities in facilities throughout the Commonwealth.
The Town of Canton completed an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Self Evaluation in 2016 and recently received a Community Compact Grant to complete the assessment and transition plan for all Town facilities.
###