Social support resources find a home in Muncie Public Libraries partnership
50-Year Anniversary | Community Partner Spotlight
For nearly 150 years, MPL has been much more than a place to find reading materials. It also serves as a key strategic partner in addressing community priorities like early literacy, workforce readiness, digital access, neighborhood connectivity, and personal enrichment.
For several years, MPL has welcomed Open Door into its space to provide events like vaccination clinics and health insurance enrollment sessions. Their facilities provide easy access for community members and a sense of familiarity for people who may not know about Open Door.
The partnership significantly blossomed with the launch of the Open Door Connections initiative, which embeds community health workers at partner sites directly in Muncie neighborhoods to help residents connect with support resources, healthcare services, and insurance coverage. “Muncie Public Library has been the ideal community partner,” said Dorica Watson, Director of Community Engagement at Open Door. “They were instrumental in establishing the initiative and continue to be essential to its ongoing success.”
During the program’s planning phase, MPL’s Connection Corner hosted neighborhood listening sessions to help Open Door learn about the neighborhood’s needs directly from neighbors. MPL contributed their own insights and provided highly visible locations for Connections staff at Maring-Hunt Library and Connection Corner. In the first year of the program, these locations produced the highest number of interactions of any Connections partner site.
“MPL offers spaces that are safe and welcoming for all people, regardless of their backgrounds or current circumstances. They do a great job of meeting people where they are and providing services that improve quality of life,” said Watson. “Because of this, we often encounter people with financial, housing, and other challenges that could use our help. Our regular presence at Maring-Hunt and Connection Corner gives the chance to build trust, learn about their lives, and hopefully connect them with the help they need.”
Watson also praises the level of support from MPL employees and leadership. MPL employees make a point to greet the Open Door Connections community health workers and get to know them. When a patron has a need for services, MPL employees walk them to the Connections table for a warm handoff.
“In short, MPL really gets our program,” Watson said. “They understand our approach and our goals, and they have adopted us as a part of the MPL family.”
According to MPL Library Director Alan Kornblau, working with Open Door Connections is a natural fit for the library.
“We take immense pride in being a vital and trusted connecting point for our community,” said Kornblau. “Hosting Open Door Connections at Maring-Hunt and Connection Corner gives our patrons and visitors easy access to important health care resources and other support services. Connections staff members share our commitment to serving our neighborhood residents well, and their knowledge and expertise complement the community services and programs provided by the library. We congratulate Open Door on their 50th anniversary and wish us all many more years of positive impact in our community.”
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Open Door Health Services operating in East Central Indiana! While caring for community members under different names during that time, the organization has seen a rich history of patient-focused care and intentional relationship-building with community partners.
To celebrate this history, each month we're featuring the story of Open Door's partnership with an area organization. Thank you for helping us celebrate the impact we make TOGETHER on quality of life.