How social work interns are changing lives at public libraries

"That bench, that’s where I used to sleep," Paul Jackson said, pointing across the street from the Sacramento Central Library.

- Cathie Anderson, Tribune News Service

“I went to sleep over there one night. I woke up with one shoe, and my glasses were gone.” Blind in one eye and living with seizures, Jackson was alone and struggling with access to services until he met Maria Montano, a social worker at the library. In less than two years, she’s become his lifeline, helping him navigate housing, disability applications and access to health care. Jackson and hundreds of other Sacramentans' lives have been touched by Montano and a team of student interns through a quiet but groundbreaking social work programme at the public library.

Montano described herself as “a social worker from A to Z," assisting library patrons with overcoming housing instability, mental health crises, joblessness and other real-world hardships. And she’s training college students from across Northern California how to do the same. Since 2023, Montano has been leading the transformation of county libraries into a lifeline for the community's most vulnerable — and a rigorous frontline classroom for the next generation of social workers. “Our community sees libraries as safe spaces where information can be sought without barriers, and those in need can seek resources and assistance,” said Liana Acevedo, the public services manager at the Sacramento Public Library.