When the federal government deployed the ERA program, the library was contacted by CSD to explore an expansion of our partnership in 2020. Now that libraries were open full hours providing ample services and programs, we strategized about how we could balance new work with an already busy array of staff duties. We challenged ourselves to maximize the impact of great customer service coupled with supportive client services while focusing on introducing many new community members to the library and its myriad resources.

Another community partner, CareerSource PBC, secured funding to hire 13 full-time individuals to serve as customer service reps. Libraries repurposed study rooms and conference rooms to host space for these reps to meet directly with clients five days a week. CSD provided ongoing training to 19 library employees who were assigned 3,434 applications to review and approve. The library is the optimal location for this program as clients depend on our computers, document scanning and expert staff to provide tech assistance.

In addition to the creation of 13 temporary jobs, the CareerSource partnership lead to customer service reps making over 6,698 client contacts in seven months. Library staff were assigned roughly one third of all applications since the inception of the ERA program, which, to date, has sent over $34 million to Palm Beach County households. In 2022, the library will explore how we can further support the county’s strategic priority of meeting the housing needs of its residents through this and other partnerships.