Librarian creates place of hope & love for neighborhood

INDIANAPOLIS -- Shanika Heyward could have been a statistic. Drugs, crime, poverty — that was the world she lived in near 38th Street and Emerson Avenue in the 1980s and early '90s.

Her parents were lost to drug addiction and mental illness during her youth. She and her two siblings bounced from home to home, moving in and out of foster care. But two things saved a young Shanika — her grandmother and the library.

From the time she was 6 years old, Shanika would walk with her older brother and sister to the old Emerson Avenue branch of the Indianapolis Public Library at 36th and Emerson, a few blocks from her grandmother's home.

Even when her siblings got older and stopped going, she didn't.

"I went every day, and the librarians helped me with my homework," Heyward said. "My grandmother couldn't help me with my homework."

Now, Heyward is in a position to help others as manager of the East 38th Street branch of The Indianapolis Public Library. During 2016 National Library Week, Heyward was honored as a "Mover and Shaker" by Library Journal.

She was recognized nationally for tapping into her deep familiarity with the neighborhood to organize community partnerships with more than 40 nonprofits, businesses, churches and universities.

Whether it's Breakfast with a Cop, weekly GED classes, a summer food program, tutoring, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) classes through Purdue Extension, fatherhood forums or a job center, those who know her say Heyward is always looking for ways to attack the unemployment, crime and poverty rates that threaten to rob families of the one thing everyone needs to survive — hope.

Consider that the unemployment rate in the area served by the library, 5420 E. 38th St., is 22 percent, with an accompanying poverty rate of 25 percent. Forty percent earn less than $25,000 annually; 18 percent do not have a high school diploma.

Kris Gould, supervisor librarian at the Nora Branch, says the impressive number of Heyward's initiatives reflect her passion for connecting her community with library resources. Gould hired Heyward for a position as adult librarian at East 38th Street, in part because of her drive to break through some organizations' resistance to work with the library.

"She has such a passion for raising people up, and she sees the great need in the area. She knows how to talk to groups and get them to work together," Gould said. "She's our superstar."

Heyward, 39, is embarrassed by the praise. "All I'm doing is my job," she insists, even while surrounded by community awards in her small office. She gives credit to her staff, volunteers and former managers who have been by her side through the years.

"When you have the drive and desire, people will come right alongside to help you on the way," she said.

That passion was born early, during all those afternoons she spent at the library as a child.

She laughs as she remembers how kids in the neighborhood called her "the library girl" because she spent so much time there. But she also cries as those memories trigger painful reminders of a lost childhood.

"I remember the library was a safe place," she says simply, pausing to wipe away tears. "I could go there and ask for help."

Helping others

"Sister Shanika" is how some in the community refer to her. A mother, big sister, guardian angel, even Wonder Woman, they say. "She cares about everyone who walks in this branch," said local businessman and mayor's office liaison Charles Ingram during a library board meeting last week. "She's our wonder woman. She (doesn't) wear a shield ... but she says, 'I'm still gonna save this community.' "

Among the boards Heyward sits on is Forest Manor Multipurpose Center, a United Way agency and neighbor on 38th Street. Staff bring a rolling library of sorts to the center most every day in the summer as part of an intense reading program.

A lot of those kids and others in the neighborhood also get lunch from a mobile food truck that comes to the library Monday through Friday in the summer. That's a partnership Heyward pursued through the U.S. Department of Education after getting reprimanded for bringing food to feed kids at the library.

"I don't have all the answers," she said, "but if I can't provide what you need, I have a community partner that can meet that need."

Ruth Lambert, longtime neighborhood resident, licensed therapist, library volunteer and founder of the Indiana Healthy Marriage and Family Coalition, is among those partners.

"For a young woman to be so concerned about the growth and safety and well-being of a community is rare these days. She has been that person ever since she was 18 and discovered that you can see the world through the library," Lambert said.

Her vision of the world wasn't always so clear. When she was 14, Shanika became pregnant, which might have derailed her future. But her grandmother refused to allow it. Alice Kennedy helped Shanika raise her baby and saw to it that she graduated from Arlington High School.

Heyward began working at the Lawrence library branch and started college. She stopped and started again, with the support and encouragement of library managers who saw something special in her.

People like Jeanne Gabonay, who was Heyward's supervisor in the library's collection management services department, where Heyward transferred so she could better juggle college, her job, motherhood and caring for her grandmother.

"I've always been so proud of her and what she's accomplished," said Gabonay, now retired. "She just has so many talents; she's one of the best managers in the system."

Heyward completed work on her undergraduate degree in psychology while working in the library's collection management services department. Gabonay was the person who encouraged her to pursue a master's in library science so she could become a librarian.

"She had a light about her — she was so giving," Gabonay recalled of her time working with Heyward. "She wants to help people, and she’s chosen her role as a librarian and branch manager to be able to do that."

For Heyward, managers like Gabonay get the credit for pushing her along her journey. "It's about people who believe in you when you cannot believe in yourself."

The Indianapolis Public Library took a chance when it hired Heyward as branch manager in 2013. She had the education, but not the experience. She asked for a chance to learn, promising they would not be disappointed.

Library's 'Sister Shanika' is the heart and soul of Indy neighborhood

A place of hope

Despite the many programs and partnerships available through the library, Heyward bemoans the crime and lack of opportunity in the northeast-side neighborhood, as well as the absence of parental involvement.

"This is a parentless branch," she said. "Maybe they're working two and three jobs," but when school is out, she said, "kids are in here all day. My children's librarian has to be creative with programming."

The first thing she makes sure all kids and adults have is a library card — that's their ticket to the world, Heyward believes.

"We're working with so many people who just feel hopeless. If their momma don't care, nobody cares. I had my grandmother. If not, I'd be just like them." she said.

Her message to patrons and partners alike is this:

"This is not just a library; this is a place of hope and opportunity. Every resource you could ever think of is housed at a library, so you don't have to leave here empty. You can leave here with some hope."

She remembers the people who poured hope into her as a child and a struggling young mother.

"It's a great honor to be able to serve in this capacity."

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