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WHEREAS, Brashear High School students from approximately 5 construction shop classes and “Be There Ambassador”, students, a United Way program focusing on promoting great attendance, built 40 wooden libraries as part of the “Little Free Libraries” initiative; and,
WHEREAS, The Little Free Library movement began in the Midwest in 2009 in order to promote literacy and provide communities with free access to books. It has made its way to Brashear High School with the help of parent volunteer Debra Smallwood and construction shop class teacher Steven Fortunato; and,
WHEREAS, on December 19, 2014, Ms. Smallwood and the students placed the first library on Warrington Avenue in Allentown; and,
WHEREAS, the boxes are filled with titles available for pickup on the honor system which borrowers can bring back or replace it with different book; and,
WHEREAS, on May 23, 2015, the Brashear students debuted their work in an exhibition at The Mattress Factory, which provided the public an opportunity to bid on a dozen libraries being raffled off for installation in a Pittsburgh neighborhood; and,
WHEREAS, Ms. Smallwood has since partnered with Repair the World which enabled them to expand to other Pittsburgh neighborhoods; and,
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby commend School Volunteer Debra Smallwood, teacher Mr. Steven Fortunato, the students at Pittsburgh Brashear High School and other volunteers who helped make this program a success; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare Tuesday, July 14, 2015, to be “Brashear Little Free Libraries Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.