Carol Peeples is the Executive Director at Remerg . They’ve answered some questions below to help librarians around Colorado learn about their organization, agency, and/or services.
Below, you’ll learn about Remerg and their potential to help you serve your community. In addition, at the end of this post we’ve included some of their resources for you to view and/or use.
Tell us who you are and what you do for Remerg.
I’m Carol Peeples, and I’m the founder and executive director of Remerg, a nonprofit based in Denver.
How can Remerg partner with a library to offer resources or programming to the local community of library visitors and users?
Remerg provides a public service re-entry focused website, remerg.com, for free to the state of Colorado. We are your partner whenever you have a client who has been justice-involved (on probation/parole or just getting out of jail/prison) and looking for resources. We also provide a call line for people who need help navigating Remerg.com.
What needs or challenges can Remerg help libraries address for their communities?
Think of Remerg.com as the 2-1-1 for re-entry. If your client is looking for a sober living home in the area, where to find treatment, apprenticeship opportunities, etc., you’ll find it all on Remerg.com. Just direct the client to the website and help them navigate it if necessary.
(Editor’s note: 211 Colorado was featured as a Hidden Gem for Colorado libraries in January 2023.)
What regions – cities, counties, areas – of Colorado does your organization reach?
Remerg.com provides statewide resource information.
Do the services or resources from Remerg cost any money?
No. Remerg.com is free to the public.
Do libraries have to provide any funds or apply to any grants to work with Remerg?
Remerg.com is a public service website, so you don’t need to pay anything to use it.
Do libraries have to provide any staff, volunteers, or training in order to run your programs or provide resources or services with Remerg?
Your question gets to this problem of thinking Remerg is all of the programs we list on remerg.com. If a library wants to work with Remerg, they should make sure their staff know how to navigate Remerg.com and have spent time on the website learning it themselves. The main misperception we have is people thinking we are one huge program that case managers, etc. can refer their clients to for one-on-one help. We get calls and emails just about every day asking to refer someone to Remerg for our “program.” We’re actually just a staff of three, and while we have a few small programs we run in-house, they are only for a handful of people recruited specifically for the programs.
What support can you offer libraries to help them access additional resources or funding to bring Remerg to their library?
Remerg.com is free and libraries can steer people to the website at any time. We also have our call line that you can use when you’re trying to help a client.
Let’s say one of our librarians, directors, or staff contact you and says, “We want to bring Remerg to our community!” What will the next step look like?
It’s already in your community, virtually! If your library can dedicate staff time to learning about the resource information for your community, those staff members can be front line people for bringing Remerg to your community. I did a virtual one-hour tour of Remerg.com for librarians a year or so ago, and I can see if that video is available to share.
You will be attending a Virtual Partner Forum with the Colorado State Library on Tuesday August 8 at 11AM where you can answer questions directly from Colorado libraries who are able to attend. How else can people reach you?
Feel free to reach out to Carol@remerg.com or 303-548-3395. Thank you!
***
If you could attend our Virtual Partner Forum feel free to email me – Cristy Moran, Adult Library Services Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library – at moran_c@cde.state.co.us or Carol directly at the contact information listed in the interview above.
- Program Spotlight: Broomfield Library’s Taylor Swift Friendship Bracelet Bonanza - April 22, 2024
- Are You Eligible for Student Loan Forgiveness? Now is the Time to Check!(Before 4/30/2024) - April 18, 2024
- Colorado Libraries at PLA 2024 - March 22, 2024