Austin neighborhood program installs 21 little free libraries

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AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A southwest Austin neighborhood is now home to more than 20 little free libraries, courtesy a collaboration with the City of Austin's Neighborhood Partnering Program (NPP).

NPP worked alongside the Village at Western Oaks Owners Association to install 21 little free libraries at mailboxes in the neighborhood. The libraries are community book-sharing boxes where people can take and leave books to help promote literary access.

Through the partnership, NPP purchased the kits needed to build the free libraries. From there, neighborhood residents helped build and install them throughout the community, per a city news release.

The Village at Western Oaks' libraries are the latest in a series of projects underway across the city. Currently active projects include:

• East Williamson Creek Greenbelt Project, in collaboration with Go Austin/Vamos Austin and the East Williamson Creek Adopters
• Clawson & Lightsey intersection beautification work in partnership with the South Lamar Neighborhood Association
• Blackshear Elementary schoolyard stage, working alongside the Blackshear Parent-Teacher Association
• Shoal Creek and West Sixth Street bridge restoration work, courtesy collaborations with the Shoal Creek Conservancy

The program has completed nearly 80 community projects since 2011, according to NPP documents. Those range from sports facility improvements and art installations to playscapes, enhanced sidewalk connections, improved lighting and food forests.

NPP has a three-tiered approach toward community enhancements. Those include neighborhood cost share projects, where local groups aid in funding, developing and constructing projects on city-owned property.

Other opportunities include "Adopt-A-Spot" initiatives, where groups can work alongside city leaders to "beautify, enhance and maintain a median, roadside, underpass, wall or right of way," per city documents. With grant assistance programs, the city will match grant funding requirements a group or organization has received or is actively applying for, with the project designed to elevate a public space in Austin.

The following requirements are mandatory for NPP projects:

• Proposed projects are on city-owned property or right of way
• Proposed projects are led by either a nonprofit community organization or a group of residents
• Proposed projects must be "accessible to the public and benefit the community"
• Proposed projects must highlight neighbors' support or support of those impacted by the project

A complete breakdown of acceptable and unacceptable project ideas is available online. To learn more about the program and submit a project interest form, click here.