2026 Impact100 TC $120,000 Grant Recipient.
In Fife Lake, the public library is one of the few places where rural residents can walk in without cost, appointment, or judgment and find what they need to keep moving forward. On any given day, a child hears a story that helps build a love of reading. A student finds books and Wi-Fi for school. A senior brings in a phone or tablet and asks for help staying connected. A job seeker prints an application. A community group looks for a room it can afford. These are small moments, but in a rural community with few alternatives, they matter deeply. Fife Lake has built its library one chapter at a time since 1887, and this project continues that tradition by preparing the next public space where residents can learn, connect, and support one another.
Room for Community: The Fife Lake Learning Hub will take place at Fife Lake Public Library in southeastern Grand Traverse County. The larger library expansion will create a new 2,280-square-foot Learning Hub within a 7,200-square-foot expansion. Impact100’s $120,000 grant will fund the Learning Hub Activation Package, ensuring the new space opens equipped, accessible, technology-ready, program-ready, and measurable from day one. The Activation Package is included within the $1.2 million total project budget and represents the portion requested from Impact100. The Activation Package is the bridge between a completed room and a room that can change lives. The expansion creates the space; Impact100 makes the space work.
Funding will provide flexible furnishings, presentation and learning technology, accessibility and senior-friendly features, hands-on learning equipment, research and digital learning tools, program launch supplies, signage and wayfinding, and evaluation supports. Each item is tied to the initiative’s outcomes: more programs, more reliable room access, stronger technology support, and better participation for underserved residents. These are not extras. They are what allow the Learning Hub to become a functioning public education space for literacy programs, school-connected learning, senior enrichment, digital literacy, community education, partner use, and public meetings.
The initiative will serve rural children, students, families, older adults, residents without reliable home internet, job seekers, people with disabilities, local organizations, and community partners in Fife Lake and nearby rural townships. Current demand shows that the Learning Hub will be used immediately. These numbers show that residents already rely on the library for learning, technology, connection, and public space. The project is ready to move forward.
The library owns the existing building footprint and expansion lot. The design is final, Mark Humitz of Cornwell Architects is onboard, a construction manager is in place, and groundbreaking is scheduled for Q3 2026. The campaign has secured or committed approximately $955,000 toward the $1.2 million total project cost, including a secured reimbursable federal grant that will be drawn down as eligible costs are incurred. If awarded, Impact100’s $120,000 grant would reduce the remaining project balance to approximately $125,000. The initiative will be implemented by a clear local team. Friends of the Fife Lake Public Library will serve as applicant and fiduciary, administering and tracking Impact100 funds. Fife Lake Public Library will own, operate, maintain, schedule, and program the Learning Hub. Library Director Cheyenne Wilcox and staff will lead activation planning, launch programming, partner coordination, and outcome tracking, with governance from the Library Board of Trustees, construction coordination from the architect and construction manager, and system support from Traverse Area District Library.
This initiative is transformational because it ensures the Learning Hub opens not as empty square footage, but as a fully equipped public learning environment from day one. With Impact100’s support, crowded programs can move into flexible space, wait-listed meeting requests can become scheduled use, seniors and residents with disabilities can participate more comfortably, digital learning can happen with appropriate technology, and the library can track outcomes through room reservations, program attendance, partner use, participation, and feedback.
The Learning Hub will be sustainable because it will become permanent library infrastructure, not a temporary grant-funded program. All Impact100-funded furnishings, technology, equipment, signage, and evaluation tools will be owned and maintained by Fife Lake Public Library as part of regular operations. Ongoing use will be supported through staff management, Library Board governance, Friends fundraising support, TADL infrastructure, community use, and annual review. Impact100’s investment will help Fife Lake open the Learning Hub not as an empty room, but as a fully activated public learning space rural residents can use from the day it opens. Read more
Check Out: Fife Lake Public Library Wishlist & Website
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