Meet Gabbie
Gabbie Barnes is a Black, multicultural dreamer living, working, surviving, and sometimes thriving in the Hartbeat: Hartford, CT. She is a daughter, soul sister, plant doula, mentor, librarian, consultant, mentee, and hobby hoarder. In her spare time, she keeps her hands busy with fiber arts projects and other crafts. She nourishes her body through the practice of yoga, the sport of paddle boarding, and by communing with nature through hiking.
She holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from University of Washington‘s iSchool where she received the 21st Century Librarian award. She graduated from Central Connecticut Statue University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication & Media Studies and a minor in Art History.
In 2020, she co-founded The People’s Saturday School, a worker-owner cooperative of facilitators, coaches, consultants, and cultural organizers in Hartford, CT.
In 2022, she founded FREE HART Closet, a free art supply trading post and art workshop space for creatives and organizers in collaboration with Mutual Aid Hartford.
Guiding Principles
- Prioritize relationships
- The library is a third place for all, especially youth
- Aim for youth-centered and relationship-centered responses, not self-centered responses
- Minimize adultism as often as possible
- Use the relationships-first framework to guide my decision-making
- Treat police escalation as a last resort
- Restorative justice over punitive justice