Hubbard Library Gets $10K Grant to Assist Those with Disabilities

HUBBARD, Ohio – The Hubbard Public Library was awarded a $10,000 grant to assist students and others with neurodiverse learning styles, learning disabilities and/or other special needs.

“We are honored and excited to have been chosen for this remarkable opportunity,” said Lorena Hegedus, director of Hubbard Public Library. This grant provides such a unique means for connecting with and understanding our residents with disabilities. This will enable the library to improve services, programs and resources to provide an even more inviting, enriching space for this population of our community.” 

The library was awarded the grant after it was selected as one of 240 libraries to participate in Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities, an American Library Association initiative that provides community engagement and accessibility resources to small and rural libraries to help them better serve people with disabilities.

“Hubbard Public Library has listened and already begun responding to needs of patrons with disabilities by installing outdoor features that can be enjoyed even when the library is closed,” Hegedus said. “Both the sensory path that has been in place since 2020 and the recently installed, fully-accessible permanent StoryWalk, complete with musical sunflowers, provide a foundation from which we hope to foster and grow creative resources for our diverse community.”

The library will partner with the Hubbard Exempted Village School District on the effort. 

“I am very familiar with the numerous diverse services, programs and activities that [the library] develops and provides to K-12 students, as well as all individuals in the Hubbard community, our school district personnel and beyond,” said Raymond Soloman, superintendent of Hubbard Schools.

The library and school district “already develop collaborative programs, including summer reading and learning programs, after-school programs, among other educational activities,” Soloman said.

For more information, email Cynthia Hirtzel at [email protected] or visit www.beyond-books.com.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.