Kimberly Vides, an immigrant from El Salvador, arrived in Gainesville in 2023 with no confidence in her English speaking abilities or her own creativity. She felt deprived of a community to surround and relate to her.
A local library changed that with its language- and community-building program for immigrants.
On Saturday mornings, the Alachua County Library District’s literacy department attempts to soften the struggles that come with being an immigrant. The English for Families program allows immigrants and their children to practice their language skills, connect with one another and build their home libraries in a safe place.
For the past two years, the program has offered five-week sessions in the spring, summer and fall to dozens of families at the Headquarters Library in downtown Gainesville. Each week, the families read a children’s storybook, discuss language aspects of the book and do a related craft.
Vides said the community and education made a large impact for her. She joined the program in April 2024 and has participated in several sessions since then. Vides’ favorite memory was painting rocks with her two kids as part of the class, which she said helped combat her self-perceived lack of creativity.
The class also helped her children. Vides said the program “was an incredible chance for them to make friends, to have more confidence — also, to speak with people with different cultures like us and having the same challenge.”
Nicole Neal, an English for Families teacher, said the sense of community for participants is one of the best results of the program.
“It's a very isolating world to be an immigrant in a new country,” Neal said. “So, they have made friends with each other, and that's a heartwarming part of it.”
Alachua County’s foreign-born population is smaller than elsewhere in Florida. Just 17.5% of residents said English is not the only language they speak at home in the 2023 American Community Survey — compared to the state average of over 40%.
But the English for Families event allows those within the small community to find and connect with one another.
Participants quickly form bonds, exchanging information to keep in touch, said Barbara Hughey Reardon, outreach manager at the library. She emphasized the importance of getting to learn in a positive, supportive environment.
“This is a very safe space,” Reardon said. “We encourage them to speak and to make mistakes. As a language learner, … I know that's really important, feeling comfortable trying to express yourself.”
The program also allows families to take home the storybook of the week, supporting them outside of the library. They have given out about 200 books through the program and over 100 more in other settings to support English language learning.
Reardon said getting to leave the class with those assets and connections was one of the program’s main goals.
“That's really important for families to start building libraries at home,” Reardon said. “The numbers are kind of surprising for the number of families that don't have books at home.”
The library created the English for Families program after receiving a Florida Humanities grant in 2023 and has held six sessions so far. Although the grant was not renewed following the termination of federal funding to all state humanities councils, Reardon said the overwhelmingly positive response pushed the library to keep offering the program.
Mary Ansell, a literacy specialist at the Headquarters Library, spoke to the significance of continuing the program.
“It's really important that we keep things like this going, especially now,” she said. “The way that things are going now in the state, I think it's really important that people feel welcomed, and people feel a sense of community.”
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the volleyball beat reporter for fall 2025. She enjoys playing basketball and volleyball in her free time and going on beach trips with friends. She has been a Boston sports fan all her life (Brad Marchand we miss you).
