New Racine library social services program provides free help

RACINE, Wis. - The Racine Public Library is now offering dedicated hours for access to social worker help.

Help at Racine Library

Local perspective:

Social worker Ashley Cedeño is the face behind this effort. She has been working at the library for five years, but the location has never offered social services on this scale.

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"My passion is helping people. That's why I went into social work," Cedeño said. "It's really great to work in such a community resource driven building that is here to support the community and offer these social services that, you know, sometimes are lacking in a lot of places."

Social services hours

What you can do:

The social services are one-on-one and available by walk-in anytime on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The program is completely free and open to anyone.

Cedeño is available to connect people to the resources they need. She aims to be a one-stop shop for housing help, food pantry lists, mental health referrals, employment assistance, and free bus passes.

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"Being able to support people and connect them, you know, even if you're able to just change one person's life, I feel like that is making a really big difference," Cedeño said.

Library space

What's next:

The library is going to renovate the space even further to make it more welcoming for those needing help. It is also hoping to have even more social worker open hours in the future.

The library is also hoping to use that social services space to have community partners come in and speak directly to those looking for assistance. Again, this is a completely free program for the public.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Ben Hanson and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

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