A new library will be built in Schenectady to bring resources and programs to city children and families.
The shovels dug in at the site of the new Phyllis Bornt Library Branch and Family Literacy Center.
Located on upper State Street, one of the city's main thoroughfares, the building is designed to be used by families and children as well as job seekers looking to enhance their literacy skills.
Cheryl Cufari, president of the Schenectady County library's board of trustees, said programs will focus on all forms of literacy.
"Meaning reading and writing, but also health literacy, economic literacy, and digital literacy for the neighborhoods that it serves as well as for the entire community area that the library system serves," said Cufari.
The project is funded by and named after the late Phyllis Bornt, who worked for decades as a county librarian and left a bequest to the county to support branch libraries. The project has been in the planning stages since 2013.
Again, Cheryl Cufari.
"We're very fortunate and certainly very appreciative even though she's not here to see the fruits of her labors, as they say."
Half a million dollars from Bornt’s bequest is supporting the project. Additional funding for the $1.87 million library comes from the county, state, and the Wright Family Foundation. A plan is in the works to obtain grant funding to pay for new equipment and furnishings.
The project is part of the County Library's Restructuring Action Plan. County legislator Gary Hughes is chair of the legislature's economic development committee.
"We see this as a project that will really be transformational not only from a development standpoint but we think it will provide a resource to the community that will get at some of the issues that we know we have among our at-risk kids and in the neighborhoods and provide resources that really just aren't there now."
The new library will be the system’s 10th branch. Local residents are ready.
"There was definitely a need for this, I am so excited and happy."
Vonda Chapman-McGill, a lifelong resident of the Hamilton Hill neighborhood, said she intends to bring her young nieces and nephews to the center.
"I will bring other children also. This is an awesome opportunity for advancing their education."
The new library branch will share a parcel with a yet-to-be-constructed Dollar General store, totalling $3 million in investment.
