Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force – SRRT/ALA
Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 11:00am – 3:30pm Central
Join the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) for our seventh annual Afternoon of Social Justice! This free virtual event features scholars, librarians, and activists as they discuss civic engagement, voter mobilization, and social change. Each session must me registered separately. A recording will be sent to everyone who registers.
“Patrick Markee spent two decades walking through New York City’s tunnels, armories and intake centers. His book asks: what if homelessness isn’t a personal failing, but the result of policy choices?”
LEAD Elementary School Librarian Shannon McGovern said, “The [kids] are so excited about getting all of the new books, they’ve been talking about it since the first day I told them.”
More than 40 volunteers from Team Teal and SAP joined nonprofit Access Books Bay Area to refurbish the library at LEAD Elementary school in San Mateo. Volunteers prepared 1,170 books by stamping, alphabetizing, applying bar codes, wrapping, and shelving them.
State agencies broadened access, ensuring every foster child aged 0-5 receives a free book monthly, cultivating a love of reading and early success.
“At some point in the school year, roughly 1.4 million students are homeless. Federal law provides extra help to make sure they get an education. That law is overseen by the U.S. Education Department, which the Trump administration wants to close.”
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.
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.
Last week, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which makes it easier for communities nationwide to fine, ticket or arrest people living unsheltered, even when there is no adequate shelter available.
Duflo wants to raise $500 billion to mitigate climate effects.
Rich nations have ‘moral debt’ to poor countries, she argues.
“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?'”
