Ripon is inching closer towards establishing its first-ever City Poet Laureate Program.

On Tuesday, the Ripon City Council, on behalf of the City of Ripon, will look to enter into an agreement with the Ripon Arts League – via a Memorandum of Understanding – to administer the program.

This will be part of the monthly session scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 259 N. Wilma Ave.

The purpose of the MOU, according to City Administrator Kevin Werner’s staff report, is “to define the responsibilities between the City of Ripon and the Ripon Arts League.”

Included in this agreement are the following:

·         The term of the MOU will be for three years.

·         The Ripon Arts League will receive an annual stipend of $5,000 each year of the MOU.

·         The Ripon Arts League will select a resident within the Ripon city limits to serve as the Ripon Poet Laureate and will include a representative from Ripon Unified and Ripon Christian Schools on the selection committee.

·         The Ripon Arts League will coordinate and advertise at a minimum of four literacy events each year of the agreement.

Last month, elected leaders inked a grant agreement between the City and the Library & Literacy Foundation of San Joaquin County – a philanthropic organization administered by the San Joaquin Community Foundation – to increase the public’s awareness of the benefits along with the importance of poetry and literacy arts. This effort led to the drafting of the MOU.

City Poet Laureate programs serve to inspire and remind local communities about the power and beauty of poetry and the importance of literacy in the various communities and schools.

The Library & Literacy Foundation of SJC pre-approved funding to all cities in SJC to start up the programs in 2020.

Since then, the City of Manteca, City of Lodi, and, currently in the works, the City of Tracy have established Poet Laureate programs.