Launching the Public Library Assistance and Community Empowerment (PLACE) project was the largest scale and most time consuming professional effort I have undertaken. After conducting IRB approved research with a group of fellow Masters of Social Work students on the needs of New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) patrons, I then parlayed my professional connections with the library and YMCA to create some new programming based on my research findings. By the end of January 2016, I launched PLACE with beginner computer skills classes at the library, resource referrals for agencies in the neighborhood, and most importantly community outreach through coffee and breakfast targeting the homeless population who frequent the main branch of the public library.

On the first day of the PLACE launch, I woke up a full hour early to run through a mental checklist of all the resources I needed and local businesses I had to visit to set up PLACE for a successful beginning. I was determined to overcome any beginning hiccups, and day one did not disappoint: the supermarket forgot my breakfast catering order, the keys for the library’s front patio were missing…and the water for the entire building was shut off, which meant no coffee that I promised to the library community. After researching successful homeless-targeted efforts at other national public libraries in San Francisco, Greensboro, and Dallas, I knew that food and drink were essential to sparking interest. For a moment, I imagined the few stragglers who might attend the first day’s coffee and breakfast outreach wandering around frustrated by another broken promise of services. Then I took a deep breath and went to work.

The supermarket filled a rush order for the PLACE breakfast, the Tulane Hospital’s food court kindly let me use their water supply to fill the coffee carafe, and by the time I returned, library staff found the keys to the porch. I set up the table with food and index cards featuring nearby resources printed on them. It was about an hour late, but the coffee was percolating, and I was already sucked into conversation, hearing about one library patron’s experience sleeping in the park across the street.

Throughout this 14-week pilot project, I learned what days the Harry Tompson Center, more commonly referred to as Rebuild, had a doctor or nurse on-site, and which days one could get a new ID card. I learned how to enroll a youth in a new school district, the overnight shelter intake times for the New Orleans Mission, Ozanam Inn, and the Salvation Army, and I learned when Job1 started its next cycle of job readiness trainings. I became a little more adept at navigating many homeless resources and was proud to be a familiar face at the library. However, I was most concerned with sustainability, and I had to reconcile this idea with the Taylor Center’s encouragement to try more, to maybe even bite off more than I could chew and see what worked and what did not. Instead of telling the library what it needed to offer its patrons, I let the patrons tell me what they actually liked and would use. Days of the week changed to accommodate more patrons, and the computer class curriculum adapted to different students. I started with a small office space generously loaned from the library, but I ended up walking around the library’s first floor, making direct connections when patrons did not come to me directly.

In my new position as Psychoeducation Program Manager at Family Service of Greater New Orleans (FSGNO), I need to grow community partnerships where FSGNO can offer mental health services and also receive referrals. This professional development allows me to stay connected to the NOPL instead of letting the hard-earned trust with patrons and employees alike simply slip away. I am proud to be able to offer mental health services from FSGNO as yet another piece of the puzzle to the New Orleans library community.

I am happy to say that I cannot write about my experiences at the end of the program, because it is still ongoing. The YMCA’s core continuing education staff still help serve coffee and breakfast in the mornings as well as welcome library patrons who we refer for literacy or other educational needs. Tulane School of Social Work professor, Deborah Oliveira, LCSW, now coordinates the weekly outreach. Two of my initial research colleagues, Lauren James and Molly Fleder, returned to help with resource referrals, while a Tulane MSW student now interns once a week at the library. NOPL secured weekly food donations from Rouse’s in the CBD, and the library hired a full time employee to expand computer education well beyond the basics. Congregation Coffee also continues to donate freshly roasted and ground coffee every week directly to the library. The PLACE project mornings are still small, usually drawing between 40-50 people each morning, but they provide the perfect environment for further cultivating the supportive and nurturing community I initially sought to create.