VITAL Libraries: 75M079

Dr. Greer Phillips is the principal of The Horan School. The Horan School is a District 75 school located in East Harlem in Manhattan. District 75 schools serve students with moderate-to-severe physical and intellectual disabilities. Joel Ochoa, the school's librarian, wrote the VITAL Libraries grant so that he could upgrade his library. Under Joel's leadership, the library has gone from being a storage room to a welcoming space for his students. He would now like to take it to the next level, creating learning stations for his students as well as reading corners with diverse, updated, culturally responsive, and inclusive literature. 

Joel would also like to turn the library into a worksite for his students where they can develop skills conducive to the working environment such as communication skills, collaboration skills, informed decision-making, and problem-solving skills.