Bridgebuilding Case Study: Newburgh Free Library

Results

The Meet Your Neighbors events were hugely successful. Across all four events in both rounds, 115 people participated (58 in Round 1 and 57 in Round 2). In the first two events alone, 32% of attendees had lived in the community for less than two years. The library achieved its goal of socioeconomic mixing, with participant income levels ranging from people experiencing homelessness to people earning over $200k.

Participants were so engaged in the conversations that library staff struggled to interrupt them to transition to the next part of the event. Some people stayed to talk for over 90 minutes after the end of the event. Staff saw participants exchanging contact information and later heard that participants had stayed in touch and helped each other find community events. 

Participants also reported feeling more connected and open-minded after attending:

These events successfully inspired participants to become actively involved with the Library as follows:

• Strategic Planning: 50% to 75% of participants said they wanted to participate in a strategic planning session.
• Support Groups: One participant launched a meet-up group specifically for developmentally disabled young adults.
• Skill Sharing: A patron committed to teaching a sewing class for teens.
• Outreach Support: A participant volunteered to assist with Spanish-language outreach for upcoming events.
• Friends of the Library: Inspired by what they learned at the event, a participant has begun volunteering with the Friends of the Newburgh Free Library group. 

The program’s reputation extended beyond the library’s own outreach. A participant named Carlos was referred to the event by Catholic Charities. He participated because he wanted to learn how to implement the Meet Your Neighbors model in his own library work and a spiritual group he helps lead, demonstrating that the approach is inspiring other community groups to replicate it.

Key learnings

• Direct outreach is far more effective than mailers. Direct outreach via phone calls or emails was much more impactful than mailers or social media. The first round’s mailer was sent to approximately 500 people but only yielded about 2 attendees. Switching to email with follow-ups via phone in Round 2 achieved the same attendance levels. The library recommends asking other staff members to help suggest very connected community members to invite who can help spread the word to others. 
• Trust indicators identify areas for improvement. Using trust indicators helped the library identify elements of the events that could be improved. Only 58% of participants reported that they “felt others tried to understand my views.” In response, the library introduced new facilitation techniques in subsequent events to give participants the opportunity to practice deep listening. As a result, in the final two events 80% of participants agreed that they felt others had tried to understand their views. 
• Demographic data reveals outreach gaps. Demographic survey questions and conversations with participants helped the library identify future outreach needs, specifically needing to increase participation from young people and men and organize an event for Spanish speakers.
• Give participants more time to connect. The most valued part of the events was unstructured conversation time. Adjusting the agenda to create more space for dialogue made events even more impactful. Says Elizabeth Vega-Lebron, Community Engagement Coordinator, “We saw people seeing each other, listening to each other, making connections, exchanging phone numbers, wanting to continue.”
• Build a “super connector” list. The team created a master spreadsheet of community members who are already active across different socioeconomic circles for people involved in arts, elderly care, faith communities, and civic organizations. They asked the staff to each suggest 10 people who should be invited. Starting with a solid list of connectors provides a foundation for outreach that grows with each event.

“It really sparked a genuine sense of belonging and happiness, which is not always easy to do with everyone. And that energy creates connection, you know, physiologically we connect with that and I think it’s powerful. It’s a tool that we can use to increase wellness in our community” - Vega-Lebron

“People are learning. They’re learning about the library and our resources. They’re learning about each other. We’re impacting loneliness, connecting people to others.” -Vega-Lebron

Why It matters

Organizing these events was incredibly inspiring for library staff and has led to a shift in their thinking about their programming. They noted: “I felt moments of euphoria…I kept getting chills,” and “it was one of the most fulfilling things we’ve ever done.” 

The events also left a big impression on library staff who are not responsible for community engagement and helped them to understand why bridging is important. “Staff were really excited by the events and coming up with lots of ideas for the next ones. It's funny because sometimes over the years [community engagement staff] constantly are asked like ‘What do you guys do exactly?’ So to hear them feel like they're finally understanding it, that's really great. And the fact that they want to get involved, that's what we want,” says Avella. They’ve also been invited to present their learnings to their entire 46-library system.  

The impact on library leadership has been significant. The library’s director asked to meet with the community engagement team and told them he “really loved what [they’ve] done.”  He wants to use their approach throughout the entire library — including during the library's next strategic planning process, where they hope to hear from a much more diverse group of community members than in past years. 

Building on the success of the Meet Your Neighbor events, Newburgh Free Library has ambitious plans to scale and deepen its community engagement work. The library has applied for funding to keep organizing these events six times a year.  They want these gatherings to become a key part of their community building work and a helpful way to connect people with volunteer opportunities both in the community and at the library. The next planned event will be conducted entirely in Spanish in July. This responds directly to the demographic analysis that identified the need to increase participation from Spanish speakers. The library is also considering developing a network of “super connectors,” community members who already travel across different socioeconomic circles, and “library ambassadors,” regular users involved in other community initiatives to help spread the word about the events to groups they are connected with.   

They also plan to try integrating bridging activities into all their other existing activities and are beginning by dedicating time at the start of all programming to welcome participants and give them some time to socialize and get to know each other and the library staff better.  

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