Local leaders are banding together in protest of federal cuts that would remove around $266 million in grants for libraries and museums across the country.
Cuts to the Institute of Museums and Library Services would include $8 million across the state with more than a million in Erie County alone, New York Congressman Tim Kennedy said.
Libraries have become a home for Community activist Charlene Caver Miller, after a childhood in Virginia under Jim Crow laws didn’t allow her access to libraries in the 1950s and 60s.
“I was so happy that we had something in the neighborhood that I could bring the children in the community, and I'm in here every day," she said. "So, the library is very important; I have meetings here, create block clubs here."
Everything I need done, I can come here. This is home. These are my daughters, these are my sons, and this is my community.”
Buffalo Common Councilmember Zeneta Everhart credits her childhood librarian for being more than a resource for books. It was the local library, Everhart said, that became a safe space and an avenue for mentorship.
"The library at the corner of Bailey and East Delavan (Avenues) was a safe space for me. Books in that library saved my life, it was the space that I would go to daily," she said. "I remember the librarian, she used to actually start paying attention to me, and she would bring me snacks, because she's like 'this girl is here every day, like what is happening.' And she became a mentor to me."
