For a decade, the nonprofit Thrive Central Oregon has met with many of its clients in the Downtown Bend Library, an easily accessible space where they discuss services such as food assistance, affordable housing options and health care programs with those in need.

Now, Thrive Central Oregon is getting ready to shift its meetings at the downtown library to phone check-ins because the next step of a major library bond project is getting underway. The facility will close for a year beginning April 11; the work is being phased in with the closure of the library’s second floor starting Feb. 2.

The library work is the final phase of a $195 million bond passed in 2020 that included expansions and updates to existing libraries and the creation of a 100,000 square-foot flagship building on Bend’s east side, which is scheduled to open in May. Outside of Bend, Deschutes Public Library operates locations in La Pine, Redmond, Sunriver and Sisters.

When “the Downtown Library closes and the Central Library is not yet open, that for us is where we’ll have the largest cutback to our drop-in sites,” said Sarah Mahnke, Thrive Central Oregon executive director and founder. “Our strategy is that those drop-in sites will just turn into phone slots.”

Mahnke recognized the move will pose “a lot of challenges and some barriers,” but she said the organization is committed to keeping the public informed of program changes.

The improvements are welcome news to those in the community who use the library as an important gathering place, but the construction will require short-term adjustments. There are four other public libraries in Deschutes County, but none of them are centrally located for those who rely on public transportation and the temporary closure removes a free “third space” in the city’s core.

For example, nonprofits like the downtown Bend Farmers Market, an afterschool program for Black teens and a local Nordic skiing group have found other spaces, in addition to Thrive Central Oregon.

Thrive Central Oregon hasn’t set a date for when they’ll move their downtown in-person services to phone appointments, but when they do, they’ll still have two sites where people can drop in and get face-to-face help, Mahnke said. The library’s proximity to bus services, a local soup kitchen and downtown shopping makes the location one of the most popular, she said. Last year the organization helped over 560 people there, she said.

The downtown library’s central location is also partly why the Bend Farmers Market met in the second-floor conference rooms for the past three years – in addition to cost.

“It’s free, which is a big deal for all of us nonprofits who are trying really hard to use the funds that we make go towards our programs,” said Sarah Bigbee, board member and secretary.

When the news came about the closure, the board got lucky and a fellow member’s employer provided a space to meet for free, she said.

Like the Bend Farmers Market board, The Meissner Nordic Ski Club held board meetings in conference rooms at the downtown library, but turned to social media ahead of the closure to crowdsource free alternatives, said the club’s president, Steve Roti. In two days they had 16 offers of free places to meet, he said. He, like others who spoke to OPB, stressed their love and support for the library despite the need to pivot.

The Fathers Group, a nonprofit supporting Black families in Central Oregon, regularly held an after-school program called Ujima for Black youth on the ground floor of the library. Ujima means “collective work and responsibility” in Swahili, according to the International African American Museum in South Carolina and the Smithsonian websites. Executive Director Kenneth Adams said by email that the organization moved their classes from the Downtown Bend Library to their office and the local library, both in Redmond.

It’s not just nonprofits that will have to make some temporary adjustments. Koda Howard lives in her van in Bend and uses the library to check out books, connect to Wi-Fi, charge her laptop and work. She’s also autistic and said the library provides a calm neutral place for her to do these things without having to buy anything.

Howard said she has gone to other places like Barnes & Noble or Taco Bell to work or charge her phone without making a purchase but if they ask her to leave, she moves on. But, she said, it’s hard to think of a good alternative to the library.

“I’ve always had a pretty close relationship with the libraries in the cities I’ve lived in,” Howard said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/28/central-oregon-nonprofits-public-library-bond-project/