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| Community Navigators Angi Polito and Dana Nance |
Reach out to the Community Navigators at Randolph County Public Libraries for individualized assistance in meeting basic needs such as housing, food and clothing, employment, child care, child development support, access to medical or mental health, services and more. The navigators will direct clients to resources in the community that can help.
To reach a navigator, call 336-318-6825, email navigators@randolphlibrary.org, or contact your local library. A team member can respond anywhere in the county, and eventually the navigators will have office hours at each of the seven libraries in the Randolph County system.
The Navigators, Angi Polito and Dana Nance, will provide needs assessment and basic counseling, identify community resources that can help, and refer clients to appropriate services. They also will follow up on their clients’ progress in receiving support.
Both have extensive backgrounds as social workers – Polito worked 16 years with the Randolph County Department of Social Services and another five as a supervisor with Guilford County Social Services. Nance is transferring to the navigator program after 20 years with Randolph Social Services
A third navigator is expected to be added soon.
The Navigator project, funded by the Randolph County Board of Commissioners for a one year pilot, is a partnership among the library, the Randolph Partnership for Children, the Randolph County Department of Social Services and Randolph County Public Health.
“The social workers will be immersed in the community to the point that they will have insights like, ‘Tuesday afternoons are the least busy time at this agency,’” says Lisa Hayworth, executive director of the Randolph Partnership for Children.
The navigators especially will focus on support for families and children, seeking to prevent or reduce the need for intervention by other agencies such as law enforcement or social services.
They also will train library staff and others in local organizations to better respond to the social services needs of patrons and to effectively triage people in crisis, and will collaborate on obtaining grants to address local needs.
“People seek support at the libraries because we are viewed as safe spaces in the community,” says Library Director Ross Holt. “The navigators will enable individuals and families to find assistance in an approachable, close-to-home environment.”
Having social workers available through public libraries is an emerging trend in librarianship that has been developing over the last decade, Holt says.
For more information, visit www.randolphlibrary.org/navigators.
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