Sembrando raíces en Richmond: Planting Roots in Richmond

1. Cristina D. Ramírez, MPA, MSLS, MA Ph.D. Student, Research & Evaluation, VCU Library Community Services Manager, Broad Rock Branch, Richmond Public Library Sembrandoraíces en Richmond: Planting Roots in Richmond

2. Who am I? ¿Quién Soy Yo? What do I do? ¿Quéhago? Why am I here? ¿PorQuéEstoyAquí? Introduction/introducción

3. Many changes at the same time From Academic to Public Library From Staff to Supervisor & Branch Manager From Downtown to Southside From student patrons to large, diverse, multi-ethnic community New Beginnings/nuevoscomienzos

4. Learning from new colleagues-Branch Managers from other 7 branches and Main Learning from other Supervisors Learning from community members Learning from City of Richmond key staff members Learning/ aprendiendo

5. Meeting & reaching out to: Non-Profits Community Leaders Community Organizations Churches & religious organizations Stores, shops, restaurants, local businesses Making Connections/hacerlasconexiones

6. According to the 2010 Census, Virginia population surpassed 8 million residents for the first time More than 630,000 Virginia residents are of Hispanic origin, accounting for nearly 8% of the state’s population, constituting a 92% increase since 2000.   Sixty-two percent of the commonwealth’s Hispanics live in Northern Virginia. Hispanics represent one third of the state’s 113,000 new residents, originating largely from Virginia births, not migration. Changes in Virginia/cambios en Virginia

7. Fifty-three percent of Virginia’s Hispanics are native citizens; 13% are naturalized U.S. citizens; and 34% are foreign-born non-citizens. Most of Virginia’s foreign-born Hispanics were born in El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala From CreciendoJuntos http://cj-network.org/cj/virginia-resources/latinos-in-virginia/ Changes in Virginia, continued

8. Geographic Area: Richmond City Total Population: 204214 White: 83288 Black or African American: 103342 American Indian and Alaskan Native: 705 Asian: 4750 Hispanic or Latino: 12803 VA Census Population by Race

9. Geographic Area: Chesterfield County Total Population: 316236 White: 215954 Black or African American: 69412 American Indian and Alaskan Native: 1210 Asian: 10294 Hispanic or Latino: 22864 From http://cj-network.org/cj/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/VACensus_Race_2010.pdf VA Census Population by Race

10. “Among adults ages 25 and above, Hispanics have lower educational attainment. This difference in educational attainment is attributable in large part to Hispanic immigrants, who typically come to the U.S. with low educational attainment” “Hispanic youth are less likely to be enrolled in school than non-Hispanic youth” Understanding the Community/entendiendo la comunidad

11. “One quarter of Hispanic households are linguistically isolated, meaning all adults in the household have some limitation communicating in English” “Educational attainment and language skills tie directly into the employment and economic well-being of Hispanics in Virginia” For foreign born Latinos, the poverty rate is 15% Understanding the Community/entendiendo la comunidad

12. From the Uva Weldon Cooper Center Report http://cj-network.org/cj/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/VALatinos2011WelCoopCenter.pdf Understanding the Community/entendiendo la comunidad

13. Importance of establishing connections, building a network, and establishing your presence in the community Become a “go to person” on diversity issues Hit the ground running, take on as many new experiences & opportunities as possible Learn from others in the system and build important relationships with key members of other agencies, departments, and orgs, i.e. Office of Multicultural Affairs, ESL Liaison for RPS. Insights

14. Joined other RPL Brach Managers to apply and gain NEH grant, Muslim Journeys Helped to create diversity programming, events related to Muslims, Islam Joined NEA grant with Visual Arts Center Brought 2 artists from Spain to provide free workshops to Broad Rock Library children Joined Friends of La Plaza Latin Market Board and joined USDA Grant for Farmer’s Market Experiences

15. Joined 3 Non Profit Boards in community: VACLAA (Virginia Center for Latin American Art) Bring innovate art education & instruction to Broad Rock Library & Southside RVA Vice President & Board Member of Friends of La Plaza Latin Market Started RVA’s first ever Latino Farmer’s Market Family Lifeline Board Start and expand services to Southside RVA Experiences

16. Partnered with local Latina YA writer, Meg Medina to bring a one of a kind Latino Children’s Book Illustrator Exhibit to RPL, partnered with Visual Arts Center to bring arts workshops to children Attend local Latino events/festivals: Imagine Festival, Job Fairs, Broad Appétit Attend Back to School events, meet with parents at Schools with high percentage of Latinos Experiences Continued

17. Don’t reinvent the wheel, partner with existing agencies that have existing programs that can benefit your library and patrons Once you build your network, keep it fresh by attending events, fairs, festivals, where community partners, agencies, and key members will attend “How to” Lessons LearNed

18. Study what has been successful in areas/libraries with establish Latino populations, what has worked for them? What has been successful? Use every opportunity to continuously market your library, your self and make connections, i.e. network with cohort of City of Richmond Supervisory Leadership Program (Parks and Recreation, Police, Fire, DPW) “How to” Lessons LearNed

19. Next steps/ próximospasos Thank you for attending my presentation Questions? preguntas?

20. Cristina.ramirez@richmondgov.com Cristina.d.ramirez@gmail.com 804-646-1867 (office) Broad Rock Branch Library: 4820 Old Warwick Road Richmond, Virginia   23224 http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/index.asp FB, LinkedIn, twitter Contact information