Colorado-only 2025 Building Equity-Based Summers Cohort
Equity is more than making library services available to all.
Building Equity-Based Summers’ (BEBS) empowers libraries to design summer services that are built on a foundation of equity and co-created with their local communities to ensure systemically marginalized groups are served by and through libraries.
The Colorado BEBS 2025 cohort will focus on meeting regularly to discuss content learned and work completed between sessions. There will be pre-work sent via email in the weeks leading up to a meeting and then learning, practical application, and reflection expected in the weeks between meetings.
All discussion sessions will take place via Zoom every two weeks on Thursdays from 10:30 am to noon. Topics and dates for meetings are:
- Orientation (January 16)
- The “Why” of Summer (January 23 & February 6)
- Letting Go of Tradition (February 20 & March 6)
- Connecting with Community (March 20 & April 3)
- Measuring Impact (April 17 & May 1)
Throughout these weeks we will discuss themes related to local Colorado communities, explore broader equity and justice issues, and co-design best practices for library services and programming. The focus of this cohort is on learning to actively utilize concepts of equity in service co-design for teen and adult audiences.
For the 2025 cohort, we are seeking 2 individuals per library jurisdiction from no more than 8 jurisdictions. This may be one Adult Services and one Teen Services staff member. It could also be a Director and a community partner, a Programming Coordinator and a Trustee, or other combinations of roles. Our primary goal is for two people involved in summer programs within a library/library system to participate together.
If you are still strongly interested even though you are not sure you can recruit a second participant from your library, go ahead and fill out the expression of interest form so we can follow up with you individually.
To express interest in joining the Colorado 2025 BEBS cohort, please fill out this form.
If you have any questions about this learning opportunity, please reach out to either:
- Cristy Moran, Adult Library Services Senior Consultant, at moran_c@cde.state.co.us or via phone at 720-926-2159
- Kate Brunner, Youth and Family Services Principal Consultant, at brunner_k@cde.state.co.us or via phone at 720-595-9248