In Summary
- May 7, 5:30pm, Downtown Reno Library—Special Meeting of the Library Board of Trustees to discuss the budget
- May 13, 10am, Washoe County Administration Building—Board of County Commissioners Budget Meeting
- May 18, 2:30pm, Northwest Reno Library—Freedom to Read Members’ Meeting; talk with other library lovers and plan to advocate for our library system
- May 20, 10am, Washoe County Administration Building—Board of County Commissioners FINAL Budget Meeting; this is the last opportunity to secure funding for our library system from the county
- May 21, 5:30pm, Sierra View Library—Library Board of Trustees regular meeting
- All of our merch is through Figbar Lonesome’s Redbubble page. Please double-check the URL before purchasing, as we’ve found a handful of scam sites.
Upcoming Bcc Meetings
These next to Board of County Commissioner meetings are about the budget. Since the agendas are not posted until the Thursdays before the meeting, we don’t know yet what will be discussed.
Still, keep your eye out for the agenda for the May 13th meeting, as this will be immediately following the LBOT special meeting (see below) on the budget. We anticipate the 13th meeting will cover that.
Regardless, the county’s budget is due to the state before the end of the month, so the May 20th meeting is the final budget meeting for fiscal year 2026.
Tuesday at 10am, May 13 and 20, at 1001 E. Ninth Street, Building A, Reno, NV 89512
We encourage members to ask why no other departmental budget in the county is getting the kind of scrutiny—without evidence or cause—that the library’s is, especially since the library is only requesting $1.3 million of the county’s budget.
Need more guidance? Check out our guide to giving public comment. If you don’t plan to give comment, you can still show up with a book to show your support!
Library Board Meetings
This month, we have two opportunities to grace the Library Board of Trustees with our presences!
The first is a special budget session 5:30pm THIS Wednesday, May 7, at the Downtown Reno Library. For this meeting, we’re encouraging members to bring a friend (and an art project or something similar to keep busy) and observe the proceedings instead of giving public comment.
If you can’t make that meeting, there’s another one this month too: the LBOT monthly meeting is still happening on Wednesday, May 21, 5:30pm at the Sierra View Library. Check out our guide to giving public comment to help express yourself to our library board!
Save the Dates!
You can always find these and other happenings on our events page!
We had our final showing of Free for All at the end of April, and despite the rainy day, we had a great member turn out to talk about the importance of public libraries with us!
Our next members meeting is 2:30pm on Sunday, May 18, at the Northwest Reno Library. We encourage members to pop by and chat with us about why they love the library and how to support it in these trying times. For those planning on going to the BCC and/or LBOT meeting (see above), we’ll touch base about those too. Also, we encourage families to bring the kids along—we’ll have a Kids Corner ready. (I fixed it this time, sigh…)
Recommended Reading
The steering committee is about to start Empire of Normality: Neurodivergence and Capitalism. We’re looking forward to digging into this one!
A few of us are also reading Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation by adrienne maree brown.
If you end up checking them out, let us know your thoughts at our next members meeting!
Interested in FtR-NV merch?
Our member-artist Figbar Lonesome has a Redbubble page where you can purchase official FtR-NV merchandise. Whether you’re looking for a t-shirt, tote, tank, or something else, this is our only merch page. We’ve gotten wind there are scam pages out there. PLEASE make sure you are using this Redbubble link before purchasing anything!!
Getting this email but haven’t filled out the pledge form?
Please do!! It takes five seconds! All the pledge form does is allow us to officially count you among our number of supporters. That’s it—we don’t charge a membership fee or gatekeep information. You must opt-in this way in order to be counted.
Local Mutual Aid & Activism Events
- Good Neighbors Reno is hosting a community forum and organizer’s meeting tomorrow, May 6, at 5:30pm at City Hall. Email goodneighborsreno@gmail.com to collaborate and learn more.
- Earth Care Coop NV has a knowledge swap workshop about community gardens and effective team communication coming up on May 10 at 3:30. RSVP is required ($10 for nonmembers). Email EarthCareCoOpNV@gmail.com to get connected.
- The Reno Sunrise Movement has an upcoming Ending the Oligarchy Teach-In on 7:30pm on Thursday, May 15 at Midnight Coffee in Midtown.
- Calling our gardening Heretics! Urban Roots Nevada has a Compost Tea 101 Workshop on May 17 from 10-12:30. They also are opening up the farm for free educational visits on Thursday, May 29, from 4:30-7pm. Check out their website to see other upcoming events.
- Besides their regular Thursday meetings, CodePink Reno is showing a screening of The Encampments at the Reno Little Theater on Sunday, May 18. Doors open at 6:30; showing starts at 7. Space is limited, so book your ticket with the QR code at the link!
- Hampton House Gardens presents Reno Family Dinner! Currently, dinners are every Sunday at 4:30pm and 6pm; all are welcome. You can also find them doing outreach every Saturday from 3-4pm.
- Every Saturday from 10-12pm at Bennett Park: Biggest Little Food Not Bombs serves free meals! Learn more and find out how you can get involved.
- Every Sunday from 12-2pm: Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance hangs in the Radical Cat parking lot to provide harm reduction services and equipment. (IG here)
- Every other Sunday, 12pm: Reno Burrito Project rolls burritos at the Center of Influence food pantry at 1095 East Taylor Street, and distributes them starting at 2pm from the parking lot at Evans Ave and East 6th Street. Their next dates are May 18 and June 1. Currently, they do not need volunteers, but in general, you can help with donations, rolling, or distributing (or all three!).
- Every Tuesday at 6pm: Family Soup Mutual Aid distributes hot food and necessities at the Belief Plaza to anyone in need, no questions asked. Check out their LinkTree to sign up for their newsletter, donate via Venmo, or volunteer to bring food!
- Every Friday from 12-2pm: Laundry to the People offers a laundry service to our unhoused neighbors at the Mr. Bubbles laundromat on the corner of Victorian and Rock. They’re always in need of supplies like laundry detergent, heavy-duty trash bags, color-safe bleach, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. If you can’t meet up with them on Friday, you can bring donations to The Rad Cat!
- Biggest Free Little Pantry has several active locations where you can pick up or drop off food. Addresses for all their locations are in their Instagram bio.
- If you’re looking for more urban gardening opportunities, Good Deed Seeds has a community garden in Sparks that just did a seed drop (they may still have some available!) and have upcoming garden days later this month (dates TBA).
- While they have not posted recently, HeaterBloc Reno is a volunteer-run community DIY group supporting our unhoused neighbors. They host build days for their tent-safe heaters and often need donations for those supplies. Since the weather is warmer, they are likely on hiatus, but may have interim plans, so keep them on your radar.
Signing off with some levity: I went to the library and asked the librarian where I could find books about conspiracy theories. She leaned over and whispered, “They’re right behind you.”
We’ll see our-shelves out,
FtR-NV Steering Committee
Freedom to Read Nevada 
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