Brookings Public Library to use grant for Black History Month events, community conversation

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BROOKINGS – The Brookings Public Library has been selected as one of 100 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Libraries, an American Library Association (ALA) initiative that helps library workers better serve their small and rural communities. 

The competitive award comes with a $3,000 grant that will help the library host Black History Month events and a community conversation in February 2022.

“The library is honored to receive this grant, and I’m so excited to get this project started,” Library Community Services Coordinator Mikaela Neubauer said. “This grant will allow the community to be informed on Black history and issues, work at becoming allies and good neighbors, and discuss what we’ve learned throughout the course of the month and how to use it to shape our actions and better our city.”

As part of the grant, Brookings Public Library staff will take an online course in how to lead conversations, a skill vital to library work today. Staff will then host a conversation with residents about ways that they can, both as individuals and as a community, make Brookings a more inclusive place to live. 

In addition to the community conversation, the library will use the grant funds to host Black author focused book clubs, offer a free Bystander to Upstander training, and host Black presenters on Black history, as well as diversity and inclusion topics. The month’s events will conclude with a celebration of Black culture with food, performances, and fellowship.

The library believes this project is extremely timely. In 2020, the Brookings Human Rights Commission hosted a community listening session with members of Brookings’ Black community. This session revealed that Black Brookings residents want to see more education on Black history and culture, feel a sense of belonging, erase stereotypes, and have white allies in the community that they can trust.

“This is the library’s response to that listening session,” Neubauer said. “We have the ability to take action now, so why wait?”

If you are interested in getting involved or taking part in the conversation, contact Neubauer at mneubauer@cityofbrookings-sd.gov. Details on the library’s Black History Month events and community conversation are forthcoming. For additional information about other programs and services of the Brookings Public Library, visit www.brookingslibrary.org and follow the library on Facebook @bkglib.