KINGSVILLE, Tx — “3,2,1…”
After a year of work, the Robert J. Kleberg Public Library in Kingsville held their ribbon cutting for their new Family Place Library on Friday, May 31.
The library received a grant from the Barbara Bush Foundation and was sponsored by 1PointFive to transform the old resource center into a new children’s area.
The area will hold workshops for parents and their kids twice a year for six weeks at a time.
Those workshops will have presenters and free resources to help alleviate the stress of finding access, especially for first-time parents.
“We will bring in members of the community such as social workers and nutritionists to come in and work with the children along with their parents to make sure they’re moving forward to where they’re supposed to be,” Director of Library Services Krystin Gamez said.
First-time parent Victoria Longoria said she grew up in the area and takes her daughter, Grace, there regularly. She said she’s excited to see the change for her daughter right in time for summer.
“It’s really cool to see how, over the past 30 years, it's gone from what it was to this now. I was impressed to see this space,” Longoria said.
The new Family Place Library is also helping parents and their kiddos get involved socially with others who may be in a similar boat. That’s something mom Heather Fortmeyer said she and her two-year-old daughter could really use after moving to the area just six months ago.
“For us, especially since we just got here, we moved from California, so we didn’t know anybody here. Not only myself but Leilani is making new friends here and loves the socialization with kids her age,” Fortmeyer said.
Many in Kingsville live in poverty, with 80% of students in the area being considered economically disadvantaged. Gamez said that’s a big reason why they moved forward with the opportunity to help the community.
“We actually set up a community pantry along with the family place library to have those opportunities because the poverty rate is so high here in Kingsville. We want the public to know we have those resources available, and they don’t have to pay anything to get them,” Gamez said.
The first six-week course will start in September.
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