Ady Huertas, program manager for youth, family, and equity services at San Diego Public Library, remembers when a young immigrant boy seeking refuge in the US was not engaged in an activity she was running until something caught his eye: a luchador mask.
“Wait, why do you have a máscara?” the boy asked. She explained that she uses it to tell stories, and showed him a chapter book in English and Spanish that features luchadores. The boy returned to his shelter and shared the book with his peers. Suddenly, all the boys were asking for books about luchadores.
Huerta shared this memory at “Creating Immigrant Youth and Library Connections,” a June 30 session of the American Library Association’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition in San Diego. Joined by Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, senior manager of community outreach and engagement at New York Public Library, and Patrick Sullivan, emeritus librarian at San Diego State University and chair of the project, Huertas spoke about efforts to serve immigrant youth.
The Children in Crisis Project by Reforma: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, strives to provide unaccompanied immigrant youth with access to books, programs, and other library services.
The project, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, runs on book donations from all types of donors, Sullivan said. “I may get a pallet of books in my driveway, or I’ll get the opposite of that, which is a young girl, eight years old, in Connecticut, whose mother contacted me and said, ‘My daughter would like to have her birthday celebration be part of [the project]. She’d like to set up a wishlist on Amazon for Spanish-language books, and have all of her friends and family chip in.”
Blancarte-Hayward talked about how the project runs in New York, where more than 65,600 people are seeking asylum as of May 2024, according to the New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
Outreach to these groups has been a challenge, as shelters are kept confidential for their protection. “Our staff members were telling us, ‘There are a lot of Spanish speakers coming to my branch. I think there is a hotel nearby,’” she said. “Then we need to figure out who manages it, because we need to work with the administration to try to get to it.”
Panelists agreed that it’s key to form partnerships with organizations that have similar goals. To discover what’s happening with immigrants in your area, they suggested, reach out to local immigration and religious groups and attend town hall and school board meetings.
Huertas said that it was easy to get her fellow staffers on board with participating in the project. “As soon as our staff get involved with the youth, they want to continue that work. It is meaningful, powerful work, and you cannot be not touched by this.”
