“I’m glad the VLP is in our neighborhood not just so my own kids can go there, but so all the children in the neighborhood can have an educational and safe place to go after school to read and learn.”
- Jennifer Martin, Community Resident and early VLP Volunteer

Good morning, Ballllltimooooore! Baltimore! Charm City! John Waters! Crab Cakes! Crippling Poverty! …no, seriously, Baltimore like has some rough stuff going on. That’s why this year Dewey’s totally going steady with the Village Learning Place in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Village Learning Place won Dewey’s heart in a very quick two-step process.

Photo by Marc Campos
Pamie wishes Dave didn't think it was funny to post her roller derby pictures.

1a. VLP Volunteer & Community Relations Coordinator (and die-hard Michael Jackson lover) Emily Gould braved insufferable heat, blood-stained hotel rooms, questionable taxi cabs, bruises, fuzzy hotel porn, many drinks and many more dance parties just to make sure Pamie was well taken care of.

2. The story of how the Village Learning Place came to be.

The VLP’s building was Branch No. 6 of the Enoch Pratt Free Library from 1896 to 1997, when budget cuts led the city to identify a few physically smaller branches for closure. The Charles Village neighborhood demonstrated against the closure on Saint Paul Street, carrying signs that read “RIP Library” and wearing Victorian mourning attire. This protest garnered a significant amount of media coverage, but didn’t deter the library system from planning the closure. The neighborhood residents organized further and found pro bono legal representation, suing the Enoch Pratt Free Library system to keep their branch open. They lost their suit, but won control of the building and held a community meeting to decide what to do with the space, ultimately agreeing on a library with expanded, free cultural and educational programming.

It took them three years, $1.5 million in fundraising, and thousands of volunteer hours to restore the building, install shelving, and build a new collection. Preparations for the grand opening in 2000 included a book brigade down Saint Paul Street, where the protest had been held years before.

The VLP celebrated their tenth anniversary this summer. Hooray!

But now, in order to meet the needs of their community, they need to grow! This year, the VLP is expanding its educational space to serve more patrons at more times throughout the day, and expanding its LINK programming to include preschool and high school-aged children. In order to finance this growth, the VLP hopes to raise a $1 million budget for the first time. That’s a lot of cash! Heeeeelp!

Want to know even more about the Village Learning Place? Look here!