Dartmouth’s Bishop Stang Library wins grant to celebrate diversity through “People, Places, and Things”

The Bishop Stang High School Library was recently awarded a federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant for $12,000 from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). LSTA is administered on the federal level by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in the Commonwealth by the MBLC.

With this award, Bishop Stang High School Library will implement its school library diversity project “People, Places, and Things: Celebrating Diversity at Bishop Stang High School.”

Supported by materials that reflect the diverse ethnicities and races of our school, “People, Places, and Things” will include three library programs throughout each of the next two academic years. The programs include: an Open Mic Night with world music, a Book Tasting of fiction with diverse characters, and a Human Library featuring diverse humans to interact with and experience.

To ensure cultural competency, school librarian/project director Ann O’Leary will collaborate with two community leaders, Lee Blake, president of the New Bedford Historical Society, and Helena DaSilva Hughes, executive director of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center. Lee Blake, the project consultant, is an award-winning community organizer and retired University of Massachusetts educator. Emike Okhipo, BSHS science teacher and Diversity Council advisor, will serve as assistant project director.

Emike Okhipo and Ann O’Leary with members of the Diversity Council at Bishop Stang High School