| Betsey Suchanic | 2019 | MPA | https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/Images Profile Alumnus/betsey-suchanic.jpg | Senior Program Manager, Urban Libraries Council | <p>​Betsey Suchanic (MPA '19) is a Senior Program Manager at the Urban Libraries Council, where she supports the work of public libraries as local community anchor institutions.</p><p>Betsey joined the Urban Libraries Council directly after graduation. Her position initially focused on supporting the entrepreneurship and digital equity programs, but now she works more broadly in strategic initiatives in education, digital equity, and healthy sustainable communities.  </p><p>While studying at the University of Delaware (UD), Betsey worked as a Public Administration Fellow with the Institute for Public Administration (IPA), contributing to the Delaware Complete Communities Toolbox. This opportunity gave her an up-close look at local governments, community development, and supporting community well-being. This experience, combined with her graduate summer internship for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Philadelphia office, led her to explore how public spaces can lead to economic benefit and community well-being.</p><p>Her time at UD gave her skills and experiences to support public libraries. She built technical skills in GIS mapping, community outreach, and program evaluation through my work on the Delaware Complete Communities Toolbox. She also engaged with local government leaders across communities in Delaware, which gave her a much deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities local governments face.</p><p>Her experience with local government management has continued to be a crucial skill, from understanding council-manager forms of government to stakeholder engagement, as public libraries are typically units of their local government, this close-up look at how local governments prioritize, structure, and provide services has been the most valuable insight.</p><p>Supporting public libraries through the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging, yet inspiring undertaking for Betsey. Library staff quickly had to re-define their service models to reach their communities with crucial resources and continue to modify and change those methods. Betsey's role includes communicating the essential role that libraries serve and changing the pre-conceptions of public libraries as quiet places that only offer physical books. </p><p>As a library enthusiast before her time at the Urban Libraries Council, getting to work with and learn directly from library staff across the United States and Canada every day is a privilege for Betsey. Their viewpoint into the community, dedication to inclusion, and commitment to free and open access to resources is inspiring. And their continued creativity and dedication to provide these services in new ways, particularly in the pandemic, speaks to how essential public libraries are.</p><p>In the future, Betsey hopes to continue to support local communities in taking steps toward economic justice and to build community wealth. These include diving deep into access to entrepreneurship, workforce development and homeownership and the systemic barriers that key populations face in these avenues to build wealth.</p><p>Betsey lives in Washington, DC, where she is involved locally in her Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood, and continues to work as an artist, in both graphic design and photography. ​<br><br></p> | https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/Images Profile Alumnus/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=76 | |
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