Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force – SRRT/ALA
Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association
“Food insecurity is on the rise across Massachusetts, impacting roughly 1.1 million Bay State households, a rate that the Greater Boston Food Bank says is a record and has doubled since 2019.”
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.”
“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.”
“We’ve systemically defunded vital social services for years in Oklahoma now, almost like a blood sport for political gain,” said state Rep. Forrest Bennett, a Democrat. “It’s at the expense of plenty of folks who need our compassion and get cruelty instead, especially kids.”
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“No librarian wants to cut hours, we want to expand libraries if we could,” said Interim City Librarian Bridget Esqueda.
“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?'”
The City of Rochester is working to invest in an expansion at the Rochester Public Library to help homeless individuals and families.
According to Mayor Evans, the investments would be to expand the library’s Family Resource Center to help with critical family crisis services.
Chris Indorf, the assistant superintendent for schools in Biddeford and Saco, said that before the pandemic, student homelessness was typically temporary — just a month or so — as a relatively ample housing supply made it somewhat easier for families to find a new apartment.
“Now the homelessness seems to be endemic. It’s lasting an entire year, or it’s spanning years,” Indorf said. “Most of those cases aren’t destitution — aren’t tents out behind the Starbucks. They tend to be intergenerational, families living with other families. Part of that is due to the economy. And a good part of that is owing to just extremely limited housing stock in Biddeford and Saco, and what is available is exorbitantly expensive.”