CURRENT POSITION Community & Employee Engagement Director, Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, OH DEGREE BS, Business, University of Maryland, 1989 FAST FACT Matthews loves to travel and once rode in a hot air balloon over a Moroccan desert. FOLLOW linkedin.com/in/michelle-matthews-8492ba15 Photo by Steve France

Outreach Veteran

Michelle Matthews, community and employee engagement director at Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL), is an Air Force veteran. “As an intelligence specialist,” says Matthews, “I worked with a lot of data and information, but my most valuable piece of service was working with a diversity of people. That taught me to accept people for who they are and where they are”—a lesson she puts into work daily.

On Veterans Day 2024, more than 100 people attended CHPL’s program for veterans featuring the Ohio Veterans’ Administration (VA) Hall of Famer Kelly Knox and a display on women veterans’ history. CHPL’s relationship with the VA, Cincinnati and Hamilton County police force, and related agencies also saw the library start a gun-locks program suggested by city council member Anna Albi. “All our locations have gun locks available now,” explains Matthews, “and anyone 18 or older can request one. By December 31, 2024, we had distributed 310 locks.”

Matthews brings her care about diversity to the library’s reading-related programs. In January, the library hosted its sixth African American Read In, including family story-time with Taylor Darks, author of Be, Black Girl, Be. CHPL is currently launching Barbershop Books in conjunction with the eponymous nonprofit aimed toward inspiring Black boys ages four to eight to develop a love of reading. Ten African American–owned and -run barbershops in Cincinnati and Hamilton County will get a bookshelf and three copies each of 15 books selected by boys. “Little sisters and moms are there at the barbershops too, waiting,” says Matthews. “Most times, the libraries will supplement the books from the program with other materials.”

The library also hosts Resource Thursdays, when the Department of Job and Family Services offers office hours in branches. Department representatives accept applications, answer case questions, and connect customers with other agencies within the department.

In September 2024, CHPL staff began delivering books to the local juvenile justice center once a month; afterward, they visit and do book talks and activities and provide snacks. The range of materials requested has been surprising, says Matthews; along with the manga and graphic novels that are typically popular with adolescents, “They want biographies, legal books, books about Cincinnati history, and [books] about finance. As adults, we have ideas about what they want, but what they really want is help and guidance.”