Social Worker to Help Patrons at Burlington Library

The City of Burlington is hiring a full-time social worker for the Fletcher Free Library.

The “library outreach specialist” will help patrons struggling with mental health and substance-use issues, both of which have become more prevalent in recent months.

Burlington city councilors on Monday unanimously approved a $103,200 contract with Howard Center to provide the service for a year. The nonprofit Friends of the Fletcher Free Library chipped in $25,000 toward the cost.

The move is a small piece of Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s plan to address growing crime and disorder downtown that has disrupted commerce and created a sense of unease for many. At the library, staff regularly find people sleeping in alcoves and using drugs in bathrooms. Some of the patrons are increasingly aggressive when asked to leave.

Library director Mary Danko said the social worker’s ability to reduce these “escalated behaviors” will help all patrons feel safe at the downtown hub.

“We really think there’s a potential for great outcomes and significant positive changes that will benefit the entire community,” she said.

Library staff have already been trained to use Narcan to reverse overdoses and have learned “verbal judo,” a conversation technique meant to diffuse tension. The library also has a full-time security guard. Despite these efforts, staff have issued dozens of trespass notices to unruly patrons in recent months; police calls are also up.

Library commissioners held a special meeting in April to ask Mulvaney-Stanak for help, including hiring social worker. The position was included in the city’s fiscal year 2025 budget, along with funds to expand security services at the library.

Danko said the social worker will be key in diagnosing why a patron might act erratically — something librarians struggle to do.

“This becomes a very nuanced situation: Is this person having a mental health issue? Are they having an addiction issue?” Danko said. “My hope is that … they’re trained to suss that out a little bit better.”

Embedding social workers in libraries has become a more common practice as the dual crises of homelessness and drug addiction have plagued cities across the country. Libraries, including Burlington’s, are often one of few public spaces with restrooms and free Wi-Fi.

City Councilor Gene Bergman (P-Ward 2) said he hopes the program can be funded in future budgets.

“Every problem that has been identified at this table tonight is deep-seated, is complex and is not going away in a year,” he said, adding that he hopes the state will eventually pitch in. “We’re the biggest city in the entire state of Vermont, [but] we cannot do it on the backs of the city’s taxpayers alone.”

Before Monday’s meeting, advocates held a sit-in outside city hall to demand justice for the city’s former racial equity director, Tyeastia Green.

Green, who is Black, has asked the city for $7.5 million to settle claims that officials engaged in a “racially motivated campaign of denigration” both during her tenure and after she left Burlington in March 2022.

Nearly three dozen people gathered on the back steps of city hall with signs reading, “Liberate Tyeastia Green” and “Protect Black Women.” Before the event, someone wrote a message in chalk on the sidewalk that appealed directly to Mulvaney-Stanak: “Mayor Emma: Please Help,” it read.

Punctuated with speeches, the sit-in followed an open-letter campaign by Green supporters who have asked the city to resolve her grievances. Green’s allegations are spelled out in a 14-page “demand letter,” which Seven Days obtained through a public records request. It accuses officials of undermining Green’s work and defaming her in media interviews, among other claims.

Much of the letter focuses on the city’s decision to conduct a financial review of its past Juneteenth events after Green faced questions about how she managed an event in Minneapolis, where she worked after leaving Burlington. The review alleged “mismanagement and carelessness” by organizers of the 2022 Juneteenth — who did not include Green. Allies say the report smeared her reputation nonetheless.

On Monday, Green sat silently on the steps as her supporters spoke. Activist Ferene Paris said Burlington’s financial review amounted to a modern-day lynching and character assassination. She questioned why the city treasurer’s office — which is led by a white woman — wasn’t investigated when staff made a clerical error in calculating the budget this spring, causing an already large budget gap to grow by $4 million.

“Why do the rules work for [those staff] and not for her?” Paris said, gesturing to Green. “It’s racism, plain and simple.”

Paris also called out Seven Days’ coverage last week of Green’s allegations, charging that the newspaper should never have asked for her grievance letter and that the city shouldn’t have released it.

She also criticized the story’s headline, which noted that Green was demanding $7.5 million from the city. Paris said Green would donate half that amount as “community reparations” if the city agreed to the payout, a plan that isn’t referenced in the documents obtained by Seven Days. South Burlington resident Lydia Diamond, who spoke during the meeting’s public forum, said Green deserves twice that amount as a settlement.

Other speakers urged the city to enter mediation with Green. City attorneys have indicated they’re willing to engage in a “restorative process” but that a financial settlement is off the table.

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