Bio
Roxana Benavides is a librarian for the 21st century. The Sunset Park library she runs is a thriving neighborhood center, and perhaps the most important community resource for the diverse residents of Sunset Park. From employment assistance programs, to adult education and English language courses, to afterschool reading and tutoring programs for students, the Sunset Park branch epitomizes the importance and evolved role of the contemporary library in the community. Ms. Benavides has also taken the library outside of its walls, creating partnerships with Community Boards, hospitals and nonprofits to best serve the Sunset Park community. To reach residents unable to commute to the library, she created a mobile tent for community events and coordinated the weekly presence of the “Bibliobus” mobile library at Sunset Park to allow families to borrow books, sign up for library cards (without the fear of IDs being checked) or register for programs offered at the library. Says one Sunset Park resident, “She is an energetic ball of fire and she never waivers. She is the heart of Sunset Park.”
