Westchester Library System

Intergenerational

Pull Up a Chair at the Library: Discover Services That Can Benefit You Now

Byline

Marissa Richardson, Program Coordinator, Westchester Library System, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Pull Up a Chair: Discover Services That Can Benefit You Now is a service link for lower-income older adults. The program offers service referrals based on health, jobs, housing and family. The program is currently based at the Yonkers Riverfront Library, as well as the New Rochelle Public Library.

Advanced Planning

The library's director of innovation and outreach wanted to offer a service link for older adults. The AARP Foundation offered a grant to deliver services and programming to the older adult population.

From that grant, the library hired a program coordinator to create programming for older adults. The program coordinator began to research the organizations that Westchester Library System already had a running relationship with. The program coordinator spent a month learning about what is offered and assisting with a connections guide that was in development.

Marketing

The Pull Up a Chair program initially was advertised through a press release and fliers at the New Rochelle Public Library. The program coordinator was also invited to go on a public broadcast radio station to talk about the program.

However, this program was largely promoted through word of mouth. The main focus when building this program was visibility. The program coordinator set up a table at the New Rochelle Public Library with a royal blue tablecloth. She also set up fliers for library services and various organizations. The table was set up with two chairs, one for the program coordinator and the other for the patron. The program coordinator wanted to do this order to create a compassionate, non-judgemental environment.

Budgeting

The  main expense for this program was hiring the program coordinator, who used her time to construct relationships with outside service organizations. The program coordinator also used budget funds for a tablecloth for visibility, a printer to print applications and ink for the printer.

Day-of-event Activity

The program coordinator set up a table and chairs three days a week in the lobby of the library and set out organization materials. The table had two chairs and the program coordinator would sit and wait for patrons to come to the table. Patrons were encouraged to come to the table with questions about their situation or to ask for service referrals. The patron would fill out an intake form (View the intake form under Attachments at right.), and the program coordinator would then use a connections guide to help refer patrons to services that can help them.

Supporting Materials