Category: community-building

Office of Community Planning and Development, within the Department of Housing and Urban Development to lose 84% of its Staff

The Community Planning and Development office at HUD disburses more than $3.6 billion in federal funding for rental assistance, mental health and substance use treatment, and outreach to try and get those living outside into shelter or housing.

Read more

Dolly Parton Gifts Record $4.5 Million to Nashville Public Library

“We are humbled by Ms. Parton’s incredible act of generosity,” Nashville Public Library Foundation President Shawn Bakker said. “Not only has The Dollywood Foundation given all the books necessary to fulfill a key pillar of the program, but the historic financial contribution will enable the Library to accelerate [the] launch of this program within the fiscal year.”

Nashville Public Library

 

Indianapolis’ First Library for Black Residents Reopens Through School Librarian’s Leadership

Maurice Broaddus, librarian at The Oaks Academy middle school, poses for a portrait during orientation last week. The award-winning author is helping revive the historic Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, which in 1922 was the first library in Indianapolis established specifically to serve Black residents.(Haley Miller / Chalkbeat)

Maurice Broaddus was a writer by trade and became a middle school librarian by accident.

The award-winning Afrofuturist and sci-fi author once filled in at The Oaks Academy middle school, where he was also a teacher, for the librarian going on maternity leave. The librarian never came back.

Read more

 

Brooklyn’s New Affordable Housing Development is Built on Top of a Public Library

“A rebuilt branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is opening with a new feature: on the seven floors right above the library, there will be 49 affordable housing units. Michelle de la Uz, executive director of Fifth Avenue Committee, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing and which partnered with the Brooklyn Public Library on the project, said she’s excited to see how those tenants engage with the library, and that the branch’s programming and resources could help people feel less isolated.

Linda Johnson, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library, and de la Uz hope to see it replicated, throughout New York and beyond. “There’s an urgent need for affordable housing, and there are a lot of underutilized libraries that need modernization anyway,” de la Uz says. ‘Why not kill two birds with one stone?'”

 

[Photo: Gregg Richards/courtesy Brooklyn Public Library]
Read more

[C-EDU] The Connected Library: Vetting and Partnering with Social Service Providers (webinar)

Date: Thursday, August 11, 2022 Time:2:00PM – 3:30PM ET

Description:

As we have witnessed the social, financial, and mental health challenges of our patrons escalate during the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries must connect and build relationships with local providers focused on these needs so that we may serve our communities as effectively as possible. This session will explore why it is imperative that libraries connect with social service providers in their communities, how to cultivate these connections, and tips to make sure the agencies you work with are effective, ethical partners.

This webinar will be recorded.

Read more

ShowerUp (a collaboration between nonprofits, the library and village hall)

“A sociologist named Patrick Sharkey coined the term, ‘collective efficacy,’ to describe how the institutions work together to create community. In that regard, [Director] Shaker said, ‘Our library team feels stupendously lucky to be operating in a community that has organizations and village staff who are so open to collaboration and idea sharing. It really makes Forest Park a great place to work in.'”

Read more