I am [Shernan]: KHA COMMUNITY LIBRARY Project

The KHA Community Library is a collaborative effort of Keep Hope Alive Youth Volunteers Organization, Salvacion Elementary School teachers, Barangay Officials, concerned citizens and local community people to design, build, and equip a public library open to a high-poverty neighborhoods/communities with low academic achievement in Maliwanag, Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro. This library will include new books, and other reading and instructional materials, a “Parenting Corner” for parents/guardian to visit the library, informal reading areas, Mangyan resource corner and separate areas for study and research, instruction, and group discussion. This will benefit the students and learners from the neighboring communities and public schools.

The community library project and its partners hope that a fun, safe and enlightening space in this project will contribute to a child’s love of books and will help them to develop critical reading and thinking skills. More so, the dream of the project stakeholders is that these spaces will engage the entire family and community more directly in the schools' learning effort through partnerships with extracurricular and educational programs.

I. The goals of the Library Project are:

Create uniquely designed library for elementary and high school pupils, Mangyan learners, as well as local community people that include new book collections and instructional materials
Strengthen/instill the love of children in reading and support each school's curriculum and serve as the educational heart of the school and community
Design a practical and replicable model of community-based educational sustainability resources for other public schools in the area.
The project is an all-volunteer effort, and 100% of the book donations being raised will be spent on the revitalization of the library.
The renovations of the first Library room will be completed by March 2015. The remaining two rooms will be completed by the end of school year 2015-2016.