A small library in a East Los Angeles Public Housing Community Celebrating its One Year Anniversary

Los Angeles, CA – April 15, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Children from Ramona Gardens HeadStart program enjoyed a special story time with Housing Authority’s President and CEO Doug Guthrie. He stopped by the library to mark the one year anniversary of the opening of the Ramona Gardens library.

Ramona Gardens public housing is home to nearly 500 families and many of them have children between the ages of 0 – 8 who can benefit from early an literacy program. Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) opened this on-site library when it was discovered that youth from this community feared using the neighborhood library because they were afraid of crossing gang territory. Thanks to the hard work of staff and partner organizations who stepped up to help, the library opened its door to residents March 2012. This little library has had over 1,400 visitors to date along with toddler early literacy classes thanks to the Los Angeles Public Library.

The library has become a great resource for the community, especially for the HeadStart program that serves approximately 40 children ages three and four years old.

“My experience with the library is fantastic. On a weekly basis, we go to the library, we see how the parents are involved and the children are able to take books from the library every week,” said Argelia Tibbs,lead preschool teacher. “They read at home and we encourage that with parents … they know that Wednesday is a library day. Some of the children are identifying some words.”
The library was put together by volunteers and staff. We would like to thank UCLA, LAPL, and scholastic for donating 2,000 books. The Housing Authority employees also donated over 400 books.

Source: Media Relations