Course Format

One-Week Timeline (Course Runs 3+ Weeks)

DAYS 1-2 On Demand	DAY 3 2.5 hours	DAYS 4-7 1-2 hours (optional)
PRE-LIVE SESSION - Resources - Discussions - Bonus Content	LIVE SESSIONS - Guest speakers via webcast - Q&A via chat - Recordings available on demand	WORKSHOP - Project-based homework, applied to your job - Personalized feedback from a facilitator - Group discussion in a workshop setting	3-WEEK WORKSHOP - Facilitator-led feedback WEEK 1 Research and Identify Needs WEEK 2 Explore partnerships to serve a vulnerable population WEEK 3 Take action

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers + Facilitated Group Workshop for Project-Based Learning

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Each Week Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats Map out your own equity initiatives with guidance from an expert advisor Leave with refined, robust strategies designed to make a lasting impact on your community Workshop tangible antiracist approaches to your work with input from peer groups

Online Course Features

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available After The Live Session Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live video stream (with recordings available afterward) Instructor-led online course features personalized interaction over 3+ weeks

Facilitator-led workshop

Online Classroom Organizes All Materials Workshop assignments to help you make progress on your goals Individualized attention from course facilitators who work with you in a coaching environment in the workshop to help sort out challenges Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

Early Access On Demand Resources

Early Access and Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources (articles, videos, worksheets) in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses and other bonus content

Week 1: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 - Laying the Groundwork

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Define, Identify and Understand Vulnerable Populations

Key in serving vulnerable populations is understanding and defining who you want to serve and why. It's also crucial to approach this work from a place of cultural humility. In this session, we’ll discuss what types of community members might be considered vulnerable and how to identify them within your community. We’ll look at the public health and social work underpinnings of our work with vulnerable populations, and how we can envision the role of libraries in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable members of our communities.

Speaker: 

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 2 | 3:00-4:00 pm ET

How to Engage in Effective Outreach to Vulnerable Populations

Learn practical and creative ways to connect with community members and learn how to cultivate an outreach mindset. An expert in the field of outreach will share tested strategies for conducting meaningful outreach, including leveraging partnerships and peer-to-peer networks to make the most impact.

 
Speakers:

	Allison Waukau, Native Community Liaison, Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis
	Noah Lenstra, Assistant Professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)

Week 2: Tuesday, May 24, 2022 - Programs

Session 1 | 2:00-2:30 pm ET

Programs Serving People Experiencing Homelessness

Many libraries are pivotal in supporting people experiencing homelessness. Innovative library programming that assesses and addresses the needs of the unhoused population in a community can lead to incredible outcomes for both individuals and communities. In this session, you’ll learn about a standout model program and come away with lessons for how you can build a program that engages and supports people experiencing homelessness in your region.

Speakers:

	Leah Esguerra, LMFT, San Francisco Public Library Social Worker Supervisor
	Ida Abolin, Health and Safety Associates (HASA) at the San Francisco Public Library

Session 2 | 2:30-3:00 pm ET

Programs Serving People Who Are or Have Been Incarcerated

People who are incarcerated are typically not able to easily access information or reading materials, which impacts their quality of life and can strain their social support systems. For people who are or have previously been incarcerated, re-entry can be a challenging transition. Libraries can increase information access for incarcerated people and reduce barriers to reentry with targeted programs and service offerings and invested library staff. In this session, you’ll hear from libraries that provide opportunities for people who are currently or formerly incarcerated.

Speaker:

Workshop Q&A | 3:003:15 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 3 | 3:15-4:00 pm ET

Programs Serving Youth

In this session, we’ll discuss what libraries can do to support vulnerable youth, including foster youth, those struggling with mental health, people with low literacy, youth on probation, and queer/trans youth, who often count on the resources and sanctuary of the library when family and communities are not supportive or unsafe. We’ll discuss strategies for identifying and connecting with vulnerable youth and share programs that have been transformative in the lives of young people.

Speaker:

Week 3: Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Participatory and Peer-to-Peer Models for Library Service to Immigrant/Refugee Populations

Some of the strongest library programs and services offered to vulnerable groups engage a participatory, or peer-to-peer, approach, wherein members of the specific vulnerable group are engaged and valued members in the initiative from the start. This empowers those with direct experience to help craft program goals and outcomes, engage in outreach, and take part in running the program or service. In this session, you’ll get an inside look at the work of The American Place, an initiative of the Hartford Public Library, where the experiences of immigrant and refugee citizens have been elevated as the library provides multiple platforms for their voices to be heard and venues for their participation across their own integration experiences. 

Speaker:

Homa Naficy, Executive Director of The American Place at the Hartford Public Library

Workshop Q&A | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

An introduction to this week’s assignment and an overview of what to expect from the online workshop in this course

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Leveraging Community Partnerships to Support Vulnerable Patrons

One of the best ways to provide support to a group is to not do it alone. Learn how to increase your impact by leveraging partnerships – either new or longstanding – to serve vulnerable members of your community in this insightful session. You’ll hear how one library worked with community-based organizations to develop a robust program that could serve the needs of community members much more effectively. With combined resources, human or financial, partnerships are an enormous boon to library services to vulnerable populations.

Speakers:

	Benito Lubazibwa, Founder of the Nonprofit Advancing Black Entrepreneurship (ABE) and CALS’s Primary Partner on the Rock It!
	Leah Patterson, Rock It! Lab Coordinator at Central Arkansas Library System, Host of Shop Black Live