This June, we celebrated Immigrant Heritage Month with our Bring Your Story initiative and Pride Month with our Let’s Make Some Noise initiative. Our programs were enthusiastically attended and many enjoyed participating in the Map Your Story project, celebrating where their ancestors came from. Customers used string to demonstrate the journeys their families took to arrive in the United States. Here are the maps from Richmond Hill (above) and Glen Oaks (below).
As part of our Let’s Make Some Noise programming, we held silent dance parties at several locations. More than 200 teens danced at Cambria Heights, Queens Public Library for Teens, Woodside, and Forest Hills. With their party shoes and headphones on, these Queens teens enjoyed a dancing party that did not disturb the rest of the library’s customers but kept them moving to the rhythm of DJ Sparkx.
We also held a resource fair at Central, attended by more than 150 library customers. Adults, children, teenagers, and senior citizens gathered to learn from 13 service providers, organizations, and safe spaces for the LGBTQ community. Represented organizations included Planned Parenthood, NYPD, New York City Commission on Human Rights, Thrive NYC, Generation Q, American Red Cross, and New York Presbyterian Hospital Queens. Unlocal presented on immigration rights and asylum information, while Thrive NYC presented Thrive Talks, focusing on destigmatizing mental health and discussing issues that the LGBTQ community faces. Aids Center of Queens County conducted free HIV testing.
We were proud to celebrate Pride and learn more about our immigrant heritage!
