Diagram

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

 

Growing Equitable Library Services: Preparing Library Staff to Assist People Experiencing Homelessness – Advanced

Tuesday, November 16 | 10 am-2 pm

Register

This session will take place in Zoom and participants are asked to have cameras to engage for the duration of the training.

Individuals that are experiencing poverty or homelessness constitute a significant amount of those that frequent the library today. Library staff represent a crucial part of the emergency homeless response system. It is not uncommon for library staff to be a first point of contact for someone currently experiencing, or at imminent risk of, homelessness - which provides libraries with an important opportunity to change lives. Unfortunately, there continues to be an urgent need to assist those that are experiencing poverty and homelessness, which makes it essential for libraries to know how to effectively respond to their needs.

We are partnering with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness to provide this training for library staff to build their toolkit as they potentially help people navigate their housing crisis.

This training will provide knowledge and resources and will also be interactive and engaging to coach you through having person-centered and respectable diversion conversations with those that are in the library and currently experiencing a housing crisis.

The training will provide an overview of the homeless response system and provide basic knowledge about available resources as well as focus on how to effectively intervene in a housing crisis and assist in connection to services. There will be an emphasis on the practice of Shelter Diversion, which is a strategy that prevents homelessness at the front door by helping people identify immediate alternative housing arrangements to shelter and, if necessary, connecting them with services and financial assistance to help them return to permanent housing. Diversion can reduce the number of households becoming homeless, the demand for shelter beds, and the size of program wait lists.

 

CT State Library is an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

© 2016 CT State Library. All rights reserved.

 

Best,

Kym (she/her)

Kymberlee Powe | Children and YA Consultant | Kymberlee.Powe@ct.gov | Office: (860) 704-2221 | https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/children | 786 S. Main St. Middletown, CT 06457| Fax: (860) 704-2228

 

 

Ashley Sklar (she/ her) | Adult Services and Community Engagement Consultant, Division of Library Development

ashley.sklar@ct.gov | Office: (860) 704-2222

libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld | 786 South Main St. Middletown, CT 06457 | Fax: (860) 704-2228