engaging your community in dia partnerships
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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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Engaging Your Engaging Your Community in Dia Community in Dia
PartnershipsPartnerships
A A Multnomah County LibraryMultnomah County LibraryAdministrator’s View of Administrator’s View of
Día de los Niños y Día de los Día de los Niños y Día de los LibrosLibros
ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader
Multnomah BackgroundMultnomah 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
WHY LIBROS?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
Planning our First DíaPlanning 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
First Día HighlightsFirst 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
• 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
First Día ProgramFirst 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
1999 Activities1999 Activities• 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
ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader
1999 Workers1999 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
Wow! 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
What we changed for What we changed for Día 2000Día 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
More 2000 changesMore 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
2000 Highlights2000 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
What happened in 2001What 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
New in 2001New 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
Hooray!!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
Día 2002Día 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
Local planningLocal 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
Local planning brings lots of Local planning brings lots of decision pointsdecision 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
More hard decisionsMore 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
FeedbackFeedback• 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
Now it is 2007Now 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
2007 featured literacy focus2007 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
Types of literacy-relatedTypes of literacy-relatedactivitiesactivities
• Storytelling• Book-making• Writing• Reading aloud
Singing songs• Cutting out letters• Using letter stamps
• Activities emphasizing dialogue
• Focus on textual elements– Shapes– Colors – Numbers
ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader
Not literacy-related, but still Not literacy-related, but still valuablevaluable
• 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
Programming $4,466Rentals $2,191Printing $2,225Other $5,370
Supplies for literacy projects Artist for craft program
Total budget $14,252
FYI: 2007 BudgetFYI: 2007 Budget
ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader
Summary 2007Summary 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
Multnomah County LibraryDia de los Niños y Dia de los Libros
903
4,054
6,315
8,197
13,27212,911
18,977
9,0348,532
75
129
20
11
29
46
66
79
69
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Attendance
# of events
ALA Annual Conference 6.24.07 Ellen Fader
2007 specifics2007 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
Why is Día so important?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
Find out moreFind out more
Ellen FaderEllen Fader
Youth Services CoordinatorYouth Services Coordinator
Multnomah County Library Multnomah County Library
Portland, ORPortland, OR
503.988.5408503.988.5408
[email protected]@multcolib.org