This September, the Brooklyn Public Library started a pilot program to bring resources to delivery workers across all their branches.
Delivering Together, a project with support from the city Department of Transportation, connects workers with free wifi, phone charging stations, and access to bathrooms across all 62 of their locations.
Mohamed Reeb has been delivering food in Brooklyn Heights for a year and a half. He is especially excited about a warm place to charge his phone between orders.
“Sometimes you’re out all day and if your phone dies, it can be really difficult to find a place to charge it," he said.
The library also offers mini repair kits, battery chargers, handlebar bike repair kits, tire inflators, patch kits, bike parking spots, and workshops on road safety and workers’ rights at nine locations. These resources can be checked out or accessed for free with a library card at the Bedford, Borough Park, Brighton Beach, Dekalb, Jamaica Bay, Leonard, Paerdegat, Sunset Park and Williamsburg branches.
The program was first conceptualized as an incubator project and is funded for one year, according to Fritzi Bodenheimer, the spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library.
Aaron Soriano, BPL's Senior Manager Of Government And Community Affairs, conceptualized the program because he is a cyclist and knows the city roads can be challenging to navigate.
“It’s an industry that’s rapidly growing,” said Soriano. “New York streets and sidewalks are only x amount of feet wide. It’s making sure everyone is trained and understands the rules of the road.”
Marco Rojas primarily delivers around Midtown in Manhattan, but said that the program makes him interested in delivering around Brooklyn. He believes Delivering Together might help to remedy some of the challenges drivers face, like inclement weather conditions and arduous commutes with no water or access to the indoors.
“Winter is coming,” said Rojas. “Sometimes you’re busy and bike repair shops are far away. It’s good to know we can come to the library.”
Rojas also says he is interested in attending the workshops the library is offering. Recent examples include an English language conversation group, a multilingual business help workshop, and a neighbors meet-and-chat event at the Dyker branch.
To create the pilot, the library received input from Los Deliveristas Unidos (a subset of the Worker's Justice Project), an advocacy group that is made up of 65,000 app-based delivery workers that advocates for minimum wage for drivers and a path toward unionization.
Bodenheimer sees the library as a natural place for this kind of outreach.
“BPL has a big footprint in every single part of the borough, so we’re uniquely positioned to help delivery drivers,” she said.
In addition to in-person support, the library has an interactive map. Delivery workers can use the resource to locate library locations, as well as public restrooms and bike parking spots on the go.
Bodenheimer and Soriano see spreading the word about the service as the biggest challenge facing the program. They have outreach staff to connect drivers with resources, but want the community to know the library resources are available to them.
“Everyone is welcome,” Bodenheimer said.
