- In late September, the City of Shafter and the Shafter Library and Learning Center were presented with a Helen Putnam award for Intergovernmental Collaboration. The award was one of 12 given to cities and public service entities all across California.
- Shafter Education Partnership Director David Franz noted the award was the result of the city and the community's efforts to save the library following the county's decision to remove it from the Kern County Public Library system in an effort to reduce costs.
- The City and the Library and Learning Center will be recongized once again at Tuesday's Shafter City Council meeting at 6 p.m.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Not too long ago, the city of Shafter and the Shafter Library and Learning Center were recognized at the California League of Cities Conference, and they received the Helen Putnam Award. For what? Intergovernmental Collaboration. Now, as most of you know, the Shafter Library is not a part of the Kern County Public Library system. It is run by the city of Shafter and the community around it. Now, the award itself is a prestigious award, but according to David Franz, the Education Partnership Director, the event is — well I'll let him explain.
“The Helen Putnam award is the far less glamorous oscars for city government," said Franzthere's no red carpet. There's no beautiful people. But it was a big achievement. And we were really proud to be honored and for proud for the city to be recognized in this way.”
Obviously, Franz meant the bulk of that statement in jest, but the recognition for the two entities is no joke for the work that they’ve done for the Shafter community.
“The award was really for coming together to save the library. So, save — save the library and to take it to a new level. So that was sort of the the practical project," said Franz.
And save the library they did. Following pandemic related county budget cuts, the City of Shafter voted to keep the library open and since, a lot has changed. According to library technician Samantha Saldana nearly entirely for the better.
“The main thing is just really making that education accessible for everybody. Like people who may not have a lot of resources or opportunities, this space is open for everyone to come in and kind of get the resources they need,” said Saldana
And while the award was given to the City and the Library and Learning Center, Saldana says recognition is thanks in part to the community that kept it alive.
“They did a lot of the work and making sure that this could all happen, that, you know, that this library wasn't going to be just another one that got closed down or got like major hour cuts. You know, they had petitions going around, they put, you know, they rallied together and did all these efforts to make sure that this could happen,” said Saldana.
The City of Shafter and the Shafter Library and Learning Center will be recognized once again at the Shafter City Council meeting on Tuesday at 6:00.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
