Programming and Partnerships for a Healthier Miami
Miami-Dade Public Library System
Innovation Synopsis
The Miami-Dade Public Library System opened its Westchester Library Health and Wellness Center (Wellness Center) on April 2, 2022, with the goal of offering the community a place to learn and participate in programs with the potential to not only enrich and better their minds, but also their physical wellbeing. This new branch was the first of its kind in the country. Through various partnerships with community organizations, area hospitals and other groups, the Library Wellness Center provides its patrons with a variety of programs that attract a large number of attendees. Since opening in April 2022, the Wellness Center has provided over 2,300 programs with approximately 44,300 attendees.
Challenge/Opportunity
Challenges:
• Finding the right mix of programming and partners to offer free programs to the community, in accordance with the mission of the Wellness Center of providing access to authoritative, relevant health and wellness information to the community.
• Meeting the community’s demand for popular classes and scheduling.
Opportunities:
• By leveraging relationships with community partners such as Baptist Hospital to offer, free in-person and virtual exercise classes and partnering with local universities to present multiple series of nutrition classes, it helped strengthen relationships and fill a need for programs.
• Hiring local instructors to provide recurring exercise classes such as Flamenco Dancing, Rhythm and Zumba helped continue to fill the schedule and created recurring classes to fill popular demand.
•Library staff used an existing kitchen/cooking cart to present classes on healthy cooking and snack ideas, which diversified health and wellness educational program offering
Key Elements of Innovation
Miami-Dade Public Library System provides a robust array of programs to its patrons. Offering a daily variety of health and wellness related programs was essential to enhancing current partnerships with community organizations while cultivating new relationships with providers that would guarantee the success of the Westchester Health and Wellness Center. Baptist Hospital was a primary partner, providing the majority of the initial programs. Local universities, county departments, branch staff and many other organizations completed the complement of programming. Exercise equipment purchased was used during some programs or available for check out to use in the park adjacent to the library. The library also houses a materials collection of books, magazines and DVDs related to health, nutrition, exercise, and overall well-being. Patrons can use laptops to access the Library’s multitude of health databases and other online resources.
Achieved Outcomes
The numbers speak to the Wellness Center’s success story. In two years of operation, the center has hosted over 2,300 events with well over 44,300 attendees and counting. The Wellness Center has made a profound impact on the lives of those who have either participated in one of its programs or used its informational resources. Many programs have received high praise from participants and almost all classes are filled to capacity. New classes continue to be added to the schedule based on demand when feasible. The Westchester Health and Wellness Center is a model for the provision of health and wellness related activities, services and resources for body and mind and offerings encompass the gamut.
