HARNESSING THE POWER OF LITERATURE: Last month, a group of select librarians from around the country came together at Princeton Public Library to learn the techniques of People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos, which shares literature with those who might otherwise not have access. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the participants were led by Pat Andres and Alma Concepcion, fourth and fifth from left, of People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos.

It wasn’t exactly quiet in the Quiet Room at Princeton Public Library. Seated around a table one day last month, nine librarians from around the country were reviewing a short story and how it can be used to get the people they serve excited about literature. While tones were muted — these were librarians, after all — the discussion was animated.

Josie Andrews, from Nevada City, California, counts a large homeless population among her library clients. Cindy Welsh, from Greeley, Colorado, works with refugees and immigrants with low literacy. Aida Quinones, from Athens, Georgia, manages a bilingual library that attracts a lot of migrants.

These women and their colleagues were being trained as coordinators by the Trenton-based People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos, as part of a grant sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities entitled “Reading Deeply in Community.” The idea is to share the power of literature with underserved people in their hometowns, including Hispanic immigrants, incarcerated adults and youth, battered women, and those who might be barely literate.

Founded in 1972 by the late Sarah Hirschman, People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos was one of five organizations in New Jersey to be included last July in the NEH grants for humanities projects. The $408,378 award is being implemented over a 30-month period in collaboration with public libraries in Colorado, Alabama, California, Georgia, North Carolina, Iowa, and Illinois.

“It’s fitting that we’re convening in Princeton, since our organization is located in Trenton and many of our supporters are in Princeton,” said Pat Andres, the executive director of People and Stories. “The Princeton Public Library typically hosts our trainings when we do them for local coordinators, and we have an ongoing Gente y Cuentos program here at the library. So what better place?”

Access to literature can change a life. People and Stories goes into prisons, homeless shelters, residential treatment facilities, and other locations to read and discuss short stories in English or Spanish, inviting participants to interpret and question what they have read. “The main mission is access for those who, for whatever reason, whether it is low literacy skills or just lack of exposure, have not had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and power literature offers,” said Ms. Andres. “It gives people new understandings of themselves, others, and the world. It invites people to see beyond personal circumstances and move forward in life.”

Some of the feedback Ms. Andres receives can be particularly rewarding. “When participants report to us that they are reading the stories we read to them when their families come to visit them in prison, or are reading more frequently with their children and experience the joy it can bring, or say they are discussing it with others in the groups, then we see the positive effect it has,” she said.

A coordinator who recently ended a program at a re-entry center told Ms. Andres that one of the participants said it was the best program he had experienced in all of his years of incarceration. “We’ve had prisoners tell us People and Stories is a gym for the mind,” Ms. Andres said. “Because it’s either TV or the gym.”

As adult services coordinator of the Zion-Benton Public Library in Zion, Illinois, Elsie Martinez works with the Latino population of her district. “Almost 30 percent is Latino, so we’re trying to find more services to reach them,” she said during the training. “This has been fabulous. It’s really helpful. The group I’m targeting are parents we got connected with through the school district, and the Latino mothers are very interested in growing and learning.”

Ms. Welsh, who is with the High Plains Library District in Greeley, Colorado, said she works with people who don’t always use the library or know what resources it offers. “I make sure they know what’s available,” she said. “I facilitate civics preparation classes, and these people are so focused on getting their citizenship that they don’t always have time to enjoy literature. I’m hoping to use People and Stories to integrate them into using the library in a deeper way. The citizenship program draws them in, but it doesn’t always make them active patrons. We’re using literature as a portal, using the library in a more profound way.”

Ms. Andrews, of the Nevada County Library, plans to implement a People and Stories related program in January, partnering with probation officers. In addition to homeless patrons, she works with a lot of senior citizens.

Fifty percent of the libraries served by the NEH grant will have programs in Spanish. “We’re thrilled about that,” said Ms. Andres. “I’m also happy with the number of new immigrants and new citizens this will serve, because the seminar style of discussion will increase the likelihood of civic participation, whether or not they are immigrants.”

Ms. Andres has been involved with People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos since 1987, when she became a coordinator. In 1993, she co-founded the non-profit organization with Ms. Hirschman. she became executive director in 1996. She has watched the organization grow, and the NEH grant is a definite milestone. “What’s very thrilling about the grant is the enlarged reach to vulnerable participants we will have,” she said. “And it enlarges our geographic scope.”