On one wall of the library hangs a Latinx music-themed mural, painted by Near Westside artist Juan Cruz. On the opposite wall, another large painting is on display — this one created by much younger artists.

Children ages 6 and up participate in reading circles at La Casita Cultural Center on Tuesday evenings, reading a bilingual book one week and creating a related art project the next.

La Casita fuses old and new elements of Latino culture to offer central New York a different type of learning environment. Its bilingual library, in partnership with Syracuse University, provides multicultural reading programs and creative outlets for learners of all ages.

La Casita, “the little house” in Spanish, is a project of SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, located approximately 3 miles from the university. The center, located at 109 Otisco St., is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday with guided tours by appointment.

It is open to SU students, faculty and staff, teachers from area public schools and members of the surrounding community. Its doors first opened about six years ago, after a student at SU’s School of Information Studies did a needs assessment to see how the area might use a library space.

The model concept can be traced to Spanish Harlem and the South Bronx, where a number of similar style houses were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Just as these houses were built to socially, environmentally and culturally reclaim damaged “barrio” ground, La Casita is located in a reclaimed and revamped building — the historic Lincoln Building on the Near Westside. SU architecture students helped design the building’s internal layout structure, according to the center’s website.

La Casita’s students come from various backgrounds, including Puerto Rican, Dominican, Peruvian and Cuban. Some travel from as far as Liverpool. They have proficiencies in Spanish and English. Some are learning Spanish, while some know very little English.

Another of the center’s programs, Manos, meaning “hands” in English, works with young learners at Seymour Elementary School, a dual language school in the city of Syracuse. The school consists of English and Spanish classrooms, and preschool students spend a morning and an afternoon in each one. Once a week, each classroom comes to La Casita through Manos.

For the hour and a half the children visit, they either read or do art, then have time for music and movement. Manos helps to expand their vocabulary and develop their writing and reading proficiency in both languages.

La Casita has a budget from the College of Arts and Sciences, but books come to the library largely through donations from places like the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County. La Casita also has an Amazon wishlist that can be accessed through their Facebook page.

All books are catalogued in a spreadsheet and community members can loan them for two weeks at a time. The books aren’t just for children, either. There are walls devoted to adult reading as well as educational resources for community members studying to get their GED. An SAT prep book is visible on one shelf. A local church offers English learning programs, and often students from this program come to the library to utilize educational resources.

Margot Clark, librarian and archivist at La Casita, hopes to see the library linked with Syracuse’s Bird Library as part of the interlibrary loan system. She calls La Casita’s collection “idiosyncratic” and would like for students to easily have access to its unusual resources.

Syracuse students can access the center via the Connective Corridor bus routes, and their doing so is essential to the success of its programs. Volunteers and interns from the university make up a large portion of the Casita’s staff.

“We couldn’t do any of these programs without interns and volunteers from SU,” Clark said. Students of all language proficiencies can volunteer with the reading circles.

Reading circle participants work with Syracuse students to create their own stories. The children write each story, then SU students help translate it, design accompanying graphics and edit the work. These original stories are on display.

“I think now, with the political climate that we have, it becomes more and more important to have spaces where kids feel at home and safe and where they see their lives reflected,” Clark said. “That’s something that I think this library can do.”

Published on September 14, 2017 at 11:57 am

Contact Colleen: cefergus@syr.edu | @ColleenEFergus2