Safe and Welcoming Spaces for All
The library is a central hub for the community.
The need: “Third places” are increasingly rare in our society. Libraries are among the only places where people can visit, learn, and interact free of charge. They provide essential space for gathering, shelter, addressing social isolation and loneliness, climate resilience, and much more. Significant funding is required to keep library buildings updated and open to all.
The Foundation’s role: Free community spaces must be safe and welcoming. Foundation funding provides the library with resources to refresh, renovate, and reimagine its locations. Support includes:
Branch Upgrades
Supporting projects to adapt and improve spaces for patrons, programs, and events at libraries, including at the Lake City and South Park Branches.
Furniture
Providing annual updates to chairs, couches, tables, and other furniture at branches to keep library spaces comfortable.
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
Raising private funding and advocating for increased public funding to update HVAC systems at older library branches, so that all of Seattle’s libraries can stay open during increasingly extreme weather.
Technology
Updating the hardware and accessibility of the free library technology available to patrons.