Coachella hopes to improve failing literacy rates

On Wednesday, the city of Coachella will break ground on a $10 million state-of-the-art library.

The new facility had been in the works for three years and will be roughly 16,000 square feet. It will replace the aging, 2,000-square-foot library now serving the city.

Mayor Steven Hernandez gave KESQ News Channel 3’s and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner a preview of the plan and told her it is all part of a bigger plan.

“The new library represents an opportunity for residents to educate themselves, to get some hope underneath them, and start to change their stars, so to speak, to realize their true potential,” he said.

Hernandez said that only 30 percent of students at the city’s high school are meeting requirements to go on to higher education. He said the library will include a literacy program to help change that fact.

The new facility is expected to be open by fall of 2018.

Tune in Sunday at 11 p.m. to hear more from the mayor.