Hey all!

I've been SO impressed with the passion and predisposition for ABCD work within this community of professionals after having had the pleasure of working with library staff and leaders across the country for the past few years.

Please share your own story of working with ABCD as a library staff or a library partner/collaborator. Some things you could share:

- How did you connect with ABCD to begin with?

- What did you do or are you doing? What resources really inspired you or have you created?

- What have you learned? What advice would you give others from libraries seeking to apply ABCD?

Here are two stories from libraries I have worked with:

Oak Park Public Library partnered with a local educational organization and Triton College around a tutoring program to address differences in educational outcomes based on race. After the team encountered ABCD, they shifted their project to focus much more on the gifts and talents of young people, parents and community members with really impressive results!  https://www.imls.gov/sites/default/files/triton_college_and_oak_park_library_journey_map.pdf

The Free Library of Philadelphia launched a 2-year engagement program that invests in residents as ambassadors and consultants working to identify their own community's strengths and priorities and build upon those. https://www.swglobetimes.com/library-partnership-catalyzing-a-community-led-future/

These both have come out of the IMLS Community Catalyst Initiative that me and a team of other ABCD coaches have been working on:  https://www.imls.gov/our-work/community-catalyst-initiative

(I've also enjoyed the stories from this resource -- it was written some time ago but I think the lessons are still really relevant! https://www.urbanlibraries.org/assets/Engaged_Library_Full_Report.pdf)

updated by @april-doner: 06/23/20 03:06:33PM