Pacers and CareSource unveil refurbished library at IPS James Whitcomb Riley School 43

Pacers Sports & Entertainment and CareSource came together earlier this month to cut ribbon on a refurbished library for the students of IPS James Whitcomb Riley School 43. Staff and special guests from both organizations spent the afternoon in the new library with students showing off the new renovations, reading, and enjoying the space.

“For [students] to walk in and be excited about the books, about the space, about the collaborative meeting spaces that are here is amazing to me, and it’s an amazing and wonderful thing for our parents, our staff, and our school community as a whole,” said Dr. Michelle Jackson, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning at IPS.

Pacers forward-center Jalen Smith had the honor of cutting the ribbon to officially open the new space.

“Everything starts with a seed, and I feel as though this is the seed the needs to be planted,” said Jalen Smith. “They have a number of different books here that gives them different opportunities and different ideas of things they want to try out in life. It’s the matter of a sentence or a couple of phrases that’s going to affect their life and I feel as though that’s what’s truly going to happen.”

The IPS James Whitcomb Riley School 43 library refurbishment is part of a multi-year agreement between Pacers Sports & Entertainment and CareSource that includes partnership on the Live, Learn, & Play initiative, an effort to help local schools create environments conducive to student success.

“There are many studies that have been done around the correlation between literacy and health outcomes and that’s why were so involved in this,” said Steve Smitherman, President of CareSource Indiana. “This means a lot to us and our members. Giving them [students] the resources to further their education and nurture their imagination will, in the long-term have overall better health outcomes.”

Live, Learn, & Play will result in refurbished spaces, improved technology, and a focus on literacy for students in Indianapolis public schools. In addition, CareSource and Pacers Sports & Entertainment will collaborate on future efforts to promote public health, reduce recidivism, and support families in some of Indiana’s most vulnerable zip codes.

“This is a really cool space with a lot of sports themes in it,” said Smitherman. “I hope this really excites kids about wanting to come to the library, wanting to sit and have a place here where they can read and further their education.”

CareSource and the Pacers Refurbish School Library from CareSource on Vimeo.