AN INVESTMENT IN PEOPLE: Kitchener Public Library puts 'money where our mouth is’ in quest for representation
WRCF-supported Access to Education Fund helps remove financial barriers impacting Indigenous, racialized and equity-seeking staff pursuing higher education
If the Kitchener Public Library (KPL)’s Access to Education Fund were a book, its pages would be filled with hope. It would also be unfinished, with many critical chapters still to come.
The fund’s “prologue,” however, reads well.
“It is about an investment in a robust future library,” Nathan Stretch, Division Manager, Community Development at KPL, said about the fund launched in 2022.
Specifically, the Access to Education Fund directly supports Indigenous, racialized and equity-seeking KPL staff pursuing education needed for library roles.
The upstream initiative is in response to educational barriers that disproportionally impact Indigenous and racialized communities.
The fund comes at a time when KPL has aimed to foster more diverse leadership representation of the communities it serves (not unlike many other public institutions).
“What do we need to do to contribute community service for a long time? In Kitchener, we’re going to need a lot of different voices at the table that represent our robust city,” Stretch said. “Representation is important. Beyond rhetoric. We want to take practical, direct action. And put our money where our mouth is.”
One staff member has already received support from the fund.
“It’s working how it’s supposed to. Somebody who works at the library, who wants to continue working in libraries, and is potentially looking for even greater responsibilities or opportunities has accessed the fund to pursue schooling,” Stretch said. “They’re still working at the library while they’re pursuing schooling.”
The Access to Education Fund is a Charitable Organization Endowment Fund through Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF). The fund provides a sustainable revenue source back to the organization through annual grants. The organization focuses on building the endowment through donations, while WRCF takes care of the rest.
KPL once managed its own foundation with an endowment but realized it wasn’t part of the library’s core business and preferred to partner with WRCF, especially around ease of administration.
“It's a relationship. Kitchener Public Library feels known and supported by WRCF," Stretch said. “They are a really valuable partner in the sense that, not only do they do practical things like invest your money, but they have a good reputation in the community. We want to be associated together when we work on really meaningful important projects. That’s a really strong combination. I think there is likely some real crossover between the people who support WRCF generally and people who support the library specifically. Creating opportunities for people to be generous is something that we are able to do together really well.”
In the case of KPL’s new fund, the community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive — more than $140,000 was raised in the first 15 months alone.
"We fundraised for it and the community responded generously,” Stretch said. “It really feels like this fund was made in collaboration with the community. With community partners like WRCF, but also with library users and people who are interested in equity, people who have a strong sense of justice, and people who do future planning and are invested in the health and the longevity of institutions that serve the public.”
The results have been both validating and visible.
“One of the things that has been really gratifying is that it’s an investment in people. And because it’s a public commons, I think you can see the investment in people,” Stretch said. “You can come into the library and see who’s here. Everything that we do is an investment in people.”
“As a child, I never saw any librarians that looked like me, so I’m so grateful the Kitchener Public Library is supporting me to be that change. One of the most meaningful moments of working here was when a father expressed to me how nice it was for his daughters to see two women who wear hijabs working at the library.”
It all circles back to the community being served.
“The library is for the community and by the community. Libraries are well-established public institutions and they have traditionally been safe, thoughtful and even-keeled institutions. They can continue to be that in the community. But we wanted to make sure that we are continually extending that warm welcome,” Stretch said. “We want to make sure that we’re doing more than rhetorically inviting people in – that we’re actually making a space that all people, who live in Kitchener, want to be in.”
Donations can be made to the Kitchener Public Library Access to Education Fund at wrcf.ca/kpl. For more information about contributing to the fund, please contact WRCF at 519-725-1806 or info@wrcf.ca.
If you want to learn more about KPL and the programs that they offer in community, please visit kpl.org.