An Enoch Pratt Free Library patron was in urgent need of temporary disability aid, and social worker Falkner Discher became an avenue to success. That patron soon became the latest Baltimorean to gain relief from the library system’s “Social Worker in the Library” program.
Discher a 29-year-old Morgan State University graduate student, said that his client had been seeking assistance for months. But with the help of the program, disability aid finally got to where it was needed.
“That was so representative of this program,” Discher said. “He came in with no appointment and got his needs met.”
Enoch Pratt’s social worker program, started in 2017, is making a huge impact on people’s lives, those involved say. A professional social worker employed by the library and paid by the city oversees a staff of five social work student interns from local colleges and universities who help navigate benefits and solve problems.
The program is growing. A second professional social worker was recently hired.
The program joins nationwide trend to extend social service assistance into libraries. According to Sarah C. Johnson, an academic librarian, social worker, and researcher from Cincinnati, Ohio, the trend started in 2009 with a program at San José State University.
Today, there are 89 programs in libraries across the country in at least 18 states.
Mariel Sass, the professional social worker managing Enoch Pratt’s five interns, said that between May and August of this year the library system engaged in 270 sessions to resolve food stamp issues, 58 sessions to connect with Medicare and Medicaid, and provided utility and housing access assistance in more than 100 cases. It also provided help in acquiring vital documents like birth certificates almost three dozen times.
One patron had been living in his car after losing his job during the pandemic, Sass recalled. He was unable to look for new work because he lacked documents and a cell phone.
“I was able to assist him with establishing a mailing address, replacing his vital documents, getting health insurance, food stamps, and a free cell phone,” she said in an email. “Once he was in a more stable place, he was able to find a new job at one of the drop-in hygiene centers that he had previously received services from.”
In another case, a family of asylum seekers from Romania requested assistance with utility expenses. The parents have not yet received work authorization, and so they were unable to find jobs. They owed BGE more than $2,000 and electricity had been shut off. Sass assisted with a utility assistance application and scheduled a same-day appointment with the Community Action Partnership Center, which got the family’s utilities on within a week. Subsequently, the Office Of Home Energy Programs paid the overdue balance.
Recently, a newly unemployed single mother needed food stamps and Medicaid for her and her son. She wrote Sass in an email: “You have been so amazing. Thank you for everything. When I was unemployed I didn’t see how we were going to make it. You made the difference.”
Putting social service assistance in libraries lowers barriers to getting help. No appointment is needed to talk to a social worker, and no library card is necessary. There is no time limit for sessions.
Social workers and interns take time to fill out necessary paperwork and make phone calls. If needed, the patron can return several times to gather required identification and documents.
When seeking aide from government agencies, residents in need are routinely told to apply online, said Elizabeth Preuss, a former library intern. But those who face the impact of life-changing events often need some more direct help to access the services they need.
Often there are preexisting relationships between library staff and patrons. That bond of trust along with face-to-face assistance are big benefits.
“When everything is faceless it can be difficult to feel that anyone wants to help them,” Preuss said.
Program staff also noted that there may be more of an equitable relationship that exists between the library workers and their patrons compared to when they visit government social service agencies.
“Social work has a foundation on people and trust,” Sass said. “If people come in to the library and they’re met with someone with a friendly face they know, and can rely on and can get them through the process with expertise, they’re more likely to come back to the building.”
There are other obstacles to getting help directly from government social service agencies that loom large for clients. Sometimes people in need don’t have an internet connection to connect to those online applications. Then there’s calling in to the agencies. Many of those in need have cell phones provided by the government.
“You only get so many minutes per month,” Preuss explained. “If you’re waiting on hold a long period of time–you can’t.”
For months during the worst of the pandemic, government agencies were closed. The only place to meet someone in person to help you with your situation was at the library.
Sass and others regret that there is a need for their services, but don’t see government agencies getting easier to use anytime soon.
And the program is benefiting its interns a great deal as well as the library patrons.
“It’s a great way to learn what city services and resources are available to clients,” said Preuss, who now interns at a local hospital. “Also, it’s a great place to get exposure to people of the city.”
Currently, those in need can access the Social Worker in the Library program at the Waverly, Central, Pennsylvania Avenue, Southeast, Brooklyn and Washington Village branches of the Enoch Pratt system. Hours vary. And connecting with program information is available at any branch.
