Centering Community VOICE, a new self-paced course for children’s services and outreach specialists, is now available for free through OCLC’s WebJunction. Centering Community VOICE is based on an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, Project VOICE (Value-sensitive design of Outcomes Informing Community Engagement). The course teaches a social justice, outcomes-based planning and assessment approach for public library outreach work for children and families. It was developed in partnership with twenty library practitioners conducting outreach in diverse communities across the United States. The course provides hands-on assistance for library staff who want to better support young children (ages 0-8) and their families from underserved communities.
This course will help you:
• apply a social justice approach that focuses on equity, engagement, and empowerment to your outreach work with underserved children and families.
• use a collaborative process to design outreach programs and services that center the community and their values in the work you do; and
• implement an assessment plan–a critical stage in outreach program development–to provide you with valuable insights into the work you are doing to support families out in your community.
Enroll here, creating a free WebJunction account if needed.
You can also find this course in the WebJunction Catalog under the Outreach category.
A basic (10 hour) and advanced (30 hour) certificate are provided to cater to each learner's individual needs and time constraints.
