Final video

Okay. So, the at risk population that I

have identified for the uh for the

duration of this semester and wrote most

of my um formative assessments on are

people living below the poverty

threshold. Um, the United States

uh sets the poverty threshold to specify

the minimum income of an individual or

family that is required to meet the

basic needs of that individual or

family. Um, according to the 2024

census, um, 10.6% of

Americans fall below this threshold. Um

and at a more local level, Kentucky is

currently ranked the 46th um poorest

state in the nation with 15.6% of

residents uh living beneath the poverty

threshold. Obviously, I understand that

selecting this um as my

um population is is kind of broad. Um

there are a ton of risks associated with

living beneath the poverty line and also

it kind of depends on like where do you

fall, you know, are you right below the

poverty line or are you very far below

um the poverty line. So there's all

sorts of risks that can be associated um

with being beneath the poverty line.

they I mean and you know I'm sure I

don't have to explain them all but you

know access to like housing, food,

employment, transportation, um health

care, education, mental health

resources. Uh all of those can be uh

risks of living beneath the poverty line

and you're also at like a higher risk

for um like mental health problems and

like addiction and things like that. And

a lot of a lot of times it can be almost

like a cycle, right? Like

it, you know, you don't have stable

h affordable housing because you don't

have employment, but then you you can't

find employment because you don't have

stable housing. You know, it can just

kind of be like a just a cycle that just

kind of builds off of, you know,

different elements. Um,

so the library can be extremely

beneficial to people who are living

beneath the poverty line. Obviously,

like just at a at its like at the most

basic understanding of what a library is

like, oh, free books and other things.

Um, that can be that, you know, that

something as simple as that can be a a

benefit. It can be an escape. You know

what I mean? It can be a distraction

from the other stresses and things that

you're dealing with that are caused by

your financial predicament. You can go

to the library and you can, you know,

you can have access to a lot of

entertainment or knowledge for

completely free. You know, books,

comics, newspapers,

video games, uh, DVDs, Blu-rays.

Some libraries have library of things

now where they're offering like tools

and board games. Um, the library that I

work at has like Nintendo Switches you

can you can check out. just all sorts of

things that can just kind of provide an

escape or entertainment, but also a lot

of resources that can help you actively

um try to, you know, find solutions to

those those risks that um you're at risk

for or that that are more associated

with living beneath a poverty line. Um

you know, there there's all sorts of of

books, you know, not all books are just

for entertainment. There there's all

sorts of of of books that you could find

in the public library to kind of help

you um out of certain predicaments and

and situations. And also, you know,

if you don't have access to to a

computer or to internet at home, you can

always come to the public library and

and use those. You can you can look for

resources um that might be beneficial to

you. You can use those computers to

apply for jobs. You can use those

computers to like if there's like, you

know, a certain, you know, maybe I know

a lot of people come to the library that

I work at to like check out resources

and study for like a GED and, you know,

different um tests and exams that may be

required for certain like job placement

and things like that. Um, a lot of a lot

of like government assistant programs

require

faxes. They they don't take email. They

don't take physical mail. they require

you to fax it just because I guess it's

more secure that way. But like who who

has a fax, you know? Libraries usually

have faxes. Um so yeah, there there's

tons of resources that can be um used by

people living

uh beneath the poverty line in in

libraries and I think they do. And

there's even there's new things I mean

in a lot of their research. I I mean

obviously like this entire class is

focused around um more of a social work

perspective in libraries.

Tons of libraries are starting to employ

social workers, are starting to um

partner with like colleges and have

social work students come and volunteer

in libraries and the students get like

hours and practice and and the libraries

are able to give more of a a qualified

helping hand to these patrons because as

we know from a lot of the information

that we've taken in into this class um

if if a library isn't like access isn't

like inclusive or accessible

um to the marginalized populations who

are coming in to use them, it can be

very stressful for them and it can also

be stressful um for the staff

as well. I I came across a lot of like

library policy during my research for

this class that I would say would

certainly be um discriminatory against

people living beneath the poverty

threshold. Um, my public library doesn't

have this policy, but I came across in

my readings libraries that like you

weren't allowed to sleep in like if you

were asleep like in the library or

outside of the library, like you you

could be removed from the library

premises. Um, I wrote a little bit about

it in one of my papers, but like a

co-orker that I have used to work at the

downtown Lexington Library branch and

they had a policy where like if another

patron complained about body odor, um,

you would they had security and they

would have to be removed from the

library. And then, you know, my library

now, we provide like hygiene cabinets in

all of the restrooms. Um, in my

research, I came across several

libraries that are starting to introduce

like showers for patrons to use. So

that's just a way you can have more of a

social work um informed perspective on

these issues and instead of like well we

got to kick them out because of this or

that it's like well how can we how can

we help fix that instead of just like

remove them and and make make people

feel unwelcome. Um

so the needs assessment that I have um

proposed would would include

uh basically three things and that's um

a survey

um

feedback from staff

and um secondary research. So the survey

would be the main thing and that it

would basically it it would be

anonymous. So there would I don't want

people to you know have any privacy

concerns or feel bad about answering

these questions but it would basically

just be pretty straightforward questions

relating to um kind of the stress and

trauma that can come from living beneath

the poverty line. And it would basically

just be like you know in the last 12

months have you have you you know had

trouble buying groceries in the last 12

months? Have you had trouble finding

stable housing in the last 12 months?

Um, you know, have you have you avoided

going to the doctors even though you

probably should have because you don't

because of the costs associated with

that? And also related to like the

library um services like do do you think

the library is adequate in helping with

this or that or you know do do you think

do you would you feel comfortable asking

a frontline library staff member to like