Today's cover story highlights the organizing drives and community activism gearing up in the city's south side. Central to the community's development over the past few years is the Southside Library, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary this March.
The library opened in 2007 after residents and community activists surveyed the area to determine the need for services, which Patricia Hodapp, director of libraries at Santa Fe Public Library, says were vast.
"When we opened there was nothing," Hodapp tells SFR.
On opening day, 1,700 people showed up. Since then, the library has been a hub for providing services and resources to the area.
For one, Hodapp says many residents need access to the library's 15 public computers to apply for jobs and do their taxes. Last year, it hosted 247 community programs attended by more than 10,000 children, Hodapp says.
But staffing and funding have been challenges for the past five years, despite generous support from the city, she adds. Another obstacle is getting the word out. While library staffers and volunteers hang fliers in the region and post ads in the Southsider, the area's community newspaper, most of the outreach is done with the same technique of so many other projects in south side: word of mouth.
"It's hard in that neighborhood," Hodapp says. "It has to be word of mouth and it has to be with a friend."
This year, the library plans to start an after-school science program for adolescents and homework help classes for students on the weekdays.
Photo courtesy www.santafelibrary.org.
