What is this album? The Street Library has been in Ocean Hill pretty consistently since 2002. Now, after 15 years of having the Street Library, the community has started many of its own programs including basketball, dance, and computer classes. We at ATD Fourth World were curious about the journey that Ocean Hill and Street Library had taken together over the years and wondered what impact the Street Library had had on the community. In the fall of 2016, we began exploring the impact of the Street Library with 2 adults who used to have kids in the Street Library, 2 young adults who were kids in the Street Library, and 2 people who used to volunteer with the Street Library. We brought pictures of Street Library over the years and asked questions about what people’s experiences were like. We also talked to 4 of the children who participate in Street Library now to see what they think about it. Those questions and their answers are at the end of this album as handprints. Everyone seemed to feel very similar about the Street Library:
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2 0 0 2 "I liked the fact that they used to sit down and read stories together, that's something different that never happened in this community because really nobody has time to sit." - Street Library adult "... y'all sit there and y'all read to them, y'all have activities for them, y'all have projects for them to do, and that helps them motivate..." - Street Library adult |
2 0 0 3 “…I knew [the younger kids] would be safe. And when I came back was nothing wrong with them and everything because it’s good.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 0 4 “…sometimes [the kids] are a little bit, you know, closed. When you take them somewhere and, you know, do things with them, it opens them up a little bit more so now when you get to their neighborhood they’re more open to you. They’re more open to opening the doors and, you know, trusting- and that’s where that trust happens.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 0 5 “…y’all don’t have to have a million dollars to have fun!” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 0 6 “Y’all came and… it wasn’t in a park just sitting around, y’all were bringing activities and different things that we can do right in our neighborhood so that we don’t have to go out and travel and have fun.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 0 7 “They’re a whole bunch of children that are looking for love, there’s a whole bunch of children that… they want to be better but they just don’t know how.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 0 8 The most important thing about Street Library: “To help the kids learn how to communicate with one another, help the kids to be together…” – Street Library adult |
2 0 0 9 “…the things that y’all have done, it inspired me so I’m pretty sure it’s inspired other children as well.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 0 “But it keeps us from being bored and it also give us something to do and inspires us to be better.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 1 “…when you don’t have a lot of money… you can take things that you throw away, like toilet paper, the wraps and everything else, you wouldn’t even think that you could make a gift that could mean so much to a person…” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 2 - Festival of Learning “…from the beginning y’all cared, y’all showed that y’all cared. And caring means more to a child than anything else.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 3 “As long as they have something to do, we’ll stay outta trouble. Because the Street Library was here, we were too busy drawing, having fun to even think about fighting or doing things that.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 4 “…it was a very peaceful atmosphere. You know, because the kids came out to do something creative and saw something different instead of just being upstairs or hanging out in the street.” – Street Library adult “Showing that you care, that you want to be involved… and even when they’re not coming outside you’re knocking on the door, like come on! What are y’all doing! Let’s get dressed! Come outside! We’re doing this! And make them feel wanted.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 5 “Y’all helping these kids! And y’all helping the neighborhood, too.” – Street Library adult “…it helped children grow into their personality. And not only grow into their personality, understand others and want to work together instead of always wanting to be by themselves in group activities and things like that.” – Former Street Library kid |
2 0 1 6 “Street Library also made learning fun. That was the biggest thing.” - Former Street Library kid |