Partnering to Succeed creates powerful synergy by bringing together distinct benefits of the library and community organizations. The partnerships combine—and maximize—the library’s strength as a welcoming, safe and trusted gathering place for everyone with community partners’ specialized expertise in health, finance, immigration and other areas of need. This increases capacity for both entities. It closes service gaps in organizations, the library and in communities. The partnerships are mutually beneficial, bringing new people into the library and providing service organizations with opportunities to reach broader, more diverse audiences. Partnering to Succeed also advances a major goal of the library to strengthen its community connections by making the library more outward looking and creating more opportunities to bring significant positive change into neighborhoods.

The library provides trained staff, facilities for programs, and enhanced collections supporting the initiatives. Partners offer community access, expertise and programming. Using this strategy, the library has created a nationally recognized citizenship program to help L.A.’s 750,000 eligible residents, given the nation’s largest unbanked population tools to take control of their finances, and reduced health disparities in L.A.’s disadvantaged communities. The library successfully leverages partnerships in one program to benefit another. To bring health programs into Asian communities, for instance, the library expanded its relationship with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, which previously partnered in delivering citizenship services to these communities.

As a result of the library’s strategic partnerships with 40 community organizations and governmental agencies, over 15,000 people have taken the first steps toward citizenship at 1,400 programs; 30,000 people have benefited from 2,000 health and wellness workshops; over 15,000 people received assistance enrolling in Affordable Care Act health exchange at 925 workshops; and 3,800 Angelenos learned to better manage their money at 375 workshops. Because of its success, the library has expanded the program to other initiatives that provide children with summer meals in libraries, veterans with assistance accessing services, and newly eligible Angelenos with driver’s licenses. Partnering to Succeed has improved the lives of millions of Angelenos by extending the library’s reach and bringing services enhanced by community organizations into previously underserved neighborhoods.