University Open Air, a program from the Brooklyn Public Library, is collaborating with scholars to offer free lectures at the Bedford Public Library.

Organizers told News 12 that the purpose of the lectures is to showcase the amount of knowledge within the community and to also give immigrant teachers and professors the opportunity to “do what they love.”

A handful of residents came to the library to listen to Nadia Bokhari speak on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and the importance of the upcoming census. Bokhari worked as a professor and a television journalist in Pakistan. In the United States, she works as a translator, teacher and museum guide.

The University Open Air program has been working to gather over 20 immigrant professors and teachers to come host lectures, giving these individuals the opportunity to share their passions with the community.