What's the "big idea"?

As a child, I remember frequently visiting the Fair Oaks Library in Stockton, CA in the early 80’s. I can remember many afternoons walking over to the library to read a book, listen to the storytellers or just play there with friends.

Located within East Stockton, it has been the only library available to families in this area. For many years, it served this needing community whose recent statistics scream out as one in need of valuable educational resources - Unemployment: 18%; Residents below the poverty level: 31%; Median resident age: 26; Males: 53.8%; Females: 46.2%; Percentage of people that speak English not well or not at all: 30.1%; Percentage of foreign born residents: 37.3%; Percentage of family households: 58.2%; Percentage of people 3 years and older in K-12 schools: 28.6%; Percentage of students K-12 enrolled in private schools: 32.2%. Percentage of people in undergraduate colleges: 6.6%; Percentage of people 3 years and older in Grad or professional schools: 2.1%.

Unfortunately it was closed in 2010, among many buildings in Stockton as our city began facing bankruptcy. Since then it has stood silent and boarded up. I have driven past this building many times nostalgic for the days people would make use of this wonderful place. I want to see our community revive it into a Bilingual Library & Technology Center. To offer books & various publications in Spanish & English, provide technology resources & become a place where we can build ourselves into a strong, educated community ready for the future. My next steps are to continue to connect with supporting partners, create community awareness and of course gather funding.