Rochester Public Library Now Has In House Social Worker Available

The Rochester Public Library and Family Service Rochester have partnered to create much easier Downtown Rochester access to social services.

According to a press release, Social Worker Allison Carpenter has been working out of the library's Wellness Corner. From this location, she helps people who need support with housing, food, and other social services. She can also connect to Guiding Partners to Solutions for county-based and community-based programs.

Carpenter is in the RPL 25 hours a week, giving people the chance to have a case-worker-like experience which she said is vital to their own resilience and success. Her hours vary, so click here to see when she'll be there.

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Personal Note: I've served on a few non-profit agency boards and one of the long-standing problems is being easily accessible to people in need of whichever service that agency offers. That's what makes this partnership so great.

Much like Olmsted County placing service kiosks around Rochester, Minnesota, putting the help where it can be used is paramount to the success of individuals seeking the service. (Paramount? Who am I? Wordy McWorderson?)

“By being in a more-accessible place like a library, we are often able to intervene earlier when individuals are facing significant challenges. This allows us to get people connected to the resources they need, like food, shelter, or medical care- before they reach a crisis point." Allison Carpenter

Funding for this initiative comes from a Rochester Area Foundation Better Communities Grant and the Rochester Public Library Foundation. For more information about social worker services at the library, click here: rplmn.org.

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