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Engaging Your Community in Dia Partnerships

Engaging Your Community in Dia Partnerships. A Multnomah County Library Administrator’s View of Día de los Niños y Día de los Libros. Multnomah Background. 17 MCL locations serve Portland, Gresham, and rest of county Separate units dedicated to adult and youth outreach

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Engaging Your Community in Dia Partnerships

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  1. Engaging Your Community in Dia Partnerships A Multnomah County Library Administrator’s View of Día de los Niños y Día de los Libros

  2. Multnomah Background • 17 MCL locations serve Portland, Gresham, and rest of county • Separate units dedicated to adult and youth outreach • 1995 Ellen Fader started as Youth Services Coordinator • 1997 MCL awarded first of 2 Library Services and Technology Act grants (LSTA) to start LIBROS ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  3. WHY LIBROS? • Library Outreach in Spanish (LIBROS) addresses issues • Latino population in county rapidly expanding • Cultural and language service barriers • Staff lacked language skills • Started with one Spanish-speaking Library Outreach Specialist in January 1998 • Marcela Villagran proposed MCL’s first Día celebration ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  4. Planning our First Día • Objective: to celebrate with Spanish-speaking children and their families the magic of books and stories, and to celebrate their culture and language • One location -- a diverse, centrally located branch with large and small meeting rooms and enthusiastic staff ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  5. First Día Highlights • 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Friday April 30, 1999 • Target audience of 200: preschoolers and their families • Marcela invited partners she already served with bilingual or monolingual outreach visits (Head Start; Migrant Even Start; Housing Authority of Portland sites; child care programs; social service agency programs) • Advertised through partners’ newsletters; Spanish newspapers/radio; library fliers and newsletter ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  6. What we promised: Join us for a traditional celebration of childhood and bilingual literacy honoring the power and magic books bring to children. • Sponsors thanked on program: Oregon Public Broadcasting (giveaway books from OPB’s Ready to Learn initiative), Don Pedro Mexican Food Restaurant (food for volunteers), El Hispanic News (ads), Safeway (refreshments for families), and Pat Mora (inspiration). ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  7. First Día Program • Served donated apples, cookies and juice • Library info table (library card applications & general library info brochure in Spanish; takeaway bookmarks, stickers, and paper book bags to color • Local clinics did child health screenings • 4 storytimes with easy crafts ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  8. Puppet Shows Music Dancers Children’s Museum hands-on activity Tables with crafts Storytelling Picnic at the library: tablecloths on meeting room floor for groups to eat the lunches they brought Community Fair (WIC, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Head Start & social service agencies) Library tours 1999 Activities ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  9. 1999 Workers • LIBROS Advisory Committee (Library staff & community members who advised on LSTA grant) • Staff from Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement (OCHA) • Hispanic clubs from local high schools • Volunteers recruited by Volunteer Services or by Marcela for LIBROS • Bilingual staff (paid) ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  10. Wow! • Nearly 1,000 people attended the 1999 celebration • Multnomah County Library was the first agency in the Northwest to observe Día de los Niños y Día de los Libros. • Great publicity by involving our Latina county commissioner ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  11. What we changed for Día 2000 • Needed to print program in Spanish and English • Needed and got more media sponsors: El Hispanic News returned; we added The Oregonian and KBOO (community radio) • Many more wanted to participate; we thanked all on program (high school Spanish classes; restaurants; science museum; zoo; Police Activities League) ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  12. More 2000 changes • Moved to different branch (closer to target audience of migrant families) • Branch had 1 large and 2 small meeting rooms (more capacity) • Changed to a Thursday (Head Start doesn’t meet on Fridays) • Longer program: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. • Community fair and art workshop went all day ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  13. 2000 Highlights • High school students trained to do library tours (every ½ hour) • Community volunteers trained to read stories (noon, and every ½ hour from 4 p.m.) • Many students performed/presented: storytelling; dance; puppet shows • Professionals: bilingual clown; music; dance; storytelling (author Carmen Bernier-Grand) • Over 4,000 attended ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  14. What happened in 2001 • Still coordinated centrally by Spanish Outreach Specialist • Expanded to 6 libraries • Involved many more staff and community resources • Reached over 6,300 participants • Offered 29 cultural programs • Programs during entire month of April ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  15. New in 2001 • Paper flower and piñata making • Photography workshop • A bilingual play • School choir • Arts & crafts show • College dancers ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  16. Hooray!! • Multnomah County Library wins the 2002 Estela and Raul Mora Award! • Marcela Villagran is on FMLA with first child! • At REFORMA Board meeting in ALA Midwinter/Philadelphia in January 2003, Ellen Fader accepts plaque and stipend! ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  17. Día 2002 • Ellen Fader (happily) no longer responsible for LIBROS. • 6 branches now have dedicated bilingual LIBROS paraprofessional staff who provide programming, reference, and outreach services. • That leads to the biggest change: Each branch plans own Día – only professional programming and supply ordering are centrally coordinated. ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  18. Local planning • More responsive to neighborhoods • Increased staff development opportunity • Increased local ownership – staff, schools, and businesses • Work for Spanish Outreach Specialist shifts to coordinating supplies, and liaison with Public Relations, which contracts with professional programmers, designs local fliers, and promotes month-long event ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  19. Local planning brings lots of decision points • Need to have role clarity and decision-making authority clearly delegated • Color of logo and paper • Systemwide web site and fliers? Local fliers? Templates? Design? • Style guides? • Translation? • Promotion – local or system-wide? ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  20. More hard decisions • Who… • is main contact for questions & media appearances? • documents (photos, videos) each event? • previews and selects professional and local talent? • solicits community groups’ participation? • Staff bring varied project management, budgeting, and evaluation skills ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  21. Feedback • ESL WIC clients confused about one branches’ Spanish/English flyer promoting Día for all bilingual children • Bilingual staff confused: who is really in charge at branches? ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  22. Now it is 2007 • LIBROS has expanded to 8 branches • LIBROS has new manager • Stated Día mission: “…an event directed toward the Latino community of Multnomah County. It is intended to celebrate children and their culture and language, bilingual literacy and the magic of books.” ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  23. 2007 featured literacy focus • How can we make the event more literacy-based and make it reflect the theme “children and bilingual literacy?” • We defined “literacy-related activity:” One wherein language, words, stories, or letters are primary elements • We analyzed all 2006 activities and giveaways for literacy focus ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  24. Storytelling Book-making Writing Reading aloud Singing songs Cutting out letters Using letter stamps Activities emphasizing dialogue Focus on textual elements Shapes Colors Numbers Types of literacy-relatedactivities ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  25. Not literacy-related, but still valuable • These strengthen community and family ties, are fun, enhance cultural literacy, stimulate discussion • Making crafts, such as paper flowers • Face painting • Instrumental music ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  26. FYI: 2007 Budget • Programming $4,466 • Rentals $2,191 • Printing $2,225 • Other $5,370 • Supplies for literacy projects • Artist for craft program • Total budget $14,252 ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  27. Summary 2007 • Directed toward Spanish-speaking community • Provides a majority of programming, crafts, events, and activities that are designed to promote bilingual literacy • Adheres to a single system-wide marketing presentation of the celebration as guided by Public Relations with input from LIBROS work group ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  28. ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  29. 2007 specifics • Continue to implement new meeting room guidelines • Three-hour limit of celebrations (started in 2005) • $15,000 programming, print & supply budget for 8 locations • Roles & responsibilities clarified with PR & LIBROS ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  30. Why is Día so important? • Reflects underlying goals of MCL’s strategic plan aimed at people of all ages and backgrounds • Community focus – brings people together • Volunteer involvement • Public (parents, educators, agencies) loves it • Staff learns new skills • Gets media attention • Attracts donors • LITERACY! ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

  31. Ellen Fader Youth Services Coordinator Multnomah County Library Portland, OR 503.988.5408 ellenf@multcolib.org Find out more ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader

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