Leah Oswald's Digital Advocacy Story: Partnerships for Better Parenting
Story Title and Link: Partnerships for Better Parenting
Digital Advocacy Story Reflection
Digital Advocacy Story Reflection Script
Meme: Partnerships for Better Parenting
One-sentence Theme: When public libraries partner with community groups who provide services for teen parents, they can create programming that support teen parents in developing emergent literacy skills in their young children.
Competencies: Based on the ALA-ALSC's Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Public Libraries
I. Knowledge of Client Group: (1) understands theories of infant, child, and adolescent learning and development and their implications for library service.
VI. Programming Skills: (5) promotes library programs and services to underserved children and families
VII. Advocacy, Public Relations, and Networking Skills: (4) collaborates with other agencies serving children, including other libraries, schools, and other community agencies.
| a. Who is your target audience? Why is this group your target audience? |
My target audience is community groups or health service providers for teen parents and public library youth service coordinators who could collaborate to develop library programs and workshops to target the literacy needs of teen parents and their children. Both of these groups provide services for teens and young children. It is important that both groups of my target audience recognize the benefits their partnerships can have for their client groups.
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| b. How does your advocacy story relate to the concept of social justice? |
Libraries providing services to teen parents and their children relates to social justice in ensuring every family in the community has access to the literacy skills needed for school and employment. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies (2012) presents alarming statistics: 30% of teen girls who have dropped out of high school cite pregnancy or parenthood as a reason, 67% of teen mothers who moved out of their own families’ household live below the poverty level, and children born to mothers younger than 18 years old score significantly worse on measures of school readiness including math and reading tests. These statistics prompted me to advocate for creating partnerships with community agencies serving teen parents to develop library programs that will promote family literacy. These mutually beneficial partnerships would increase the library’s knowledge of this client group and aid the library in developing programs for teen parents. Community partnerships also connect teen parents with library services and allow libraries to take their programs to the places where teen parents are in the community.
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References
Association for Library Service to Children. 2009. Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Public Libraries. Accessed February 18, 2014.http://www.ala.org/alsc/edcareeers/alsccorecomps
National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “Why it Matters: Teen Childbearing, Education, and Economic Well-Being.” July 2012. Accessed February 16, 2014. http://thenationalcampaign.org/sites/default/files/resource-primary-download/childbearing-education-economicwellbeing.pdf
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