Spotlight on the Democracy Project in Geraldine, Montana
The Democracy Project has a history of small -but -mighty two-person groups, often working with solo librarians across rural Montana. In towns like Lewistown, Conrad, East Helena, Forsyth, and Circle, teens have addressed community needs in many ways. In Lewistown, they helped expand existing recycling programs by adding more bins and drop -off locations, as well as more volunteers. In Conrad, two teens worked with the city to install signage to improve traffic safety. Teens in East Helena established a clothing drive to support veterans. In Forsyth, two teens are working on refreshing the girls’ locker room. And in Circle, two teens rehabilitated the high school library by organizing, weeding, and cataloging books.
Two Democracy Project teens in Geraldine, population 203, began by completing a community needs assessment. They did their research and approached the town of Geraldine with a proposal for installation of the free tiny library. After obtaining permission, they installed a free little library at the town park. The teens feel that owning books and having a place in town to distribute books without censorship is important for rural communities.
“The reason we feel a free library would be good for Geraldine is because it would give everyone in our town more access to a wider variety of books. By giving people access to owning books people may start conversations with each other about what they have read and even share books that have been put in the free library with each other.” – Democracy Project teen
