Prairieland United Way looks to grow Imagination Library participation among Scott County children
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
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Prairieland United Way encourages Scott County parents and guardians to take advantage of the Imagination Library program. The program provides free books each month to children ages 0-5. To sign up for the program visit https://imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability/?#selectedCountry=US.
Prairieland United Way – with support from the Bound to Stay Bound Books Foundation and the Dollywood Foundation – is the local provider for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program in Scott County and surrounding counties.
The Imagination Library program is designed to provide one book a month to Morgan, Cass, Scott & Greene County children from birth to age five. Once a child is signed up for the program, a book is delivered directly to the child’s home, at no cost to families.
According to Prairieland United Way Executive Director Karen Walker, the program is designed to promote childhood and family reading and access to books for all children in the area.
“It’s just a way to promote family reading,” Walker said. “It helps the child and the family build a library, and it’s exciting for the children to get books in the mail and read with their parents.”
Walker encouraged parents or guardians of children in Scott County to sign their children up for the program by way of the Imagination Library website at https://imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability/?#selectedCountry=US.
“It’s very simple to sign up,” Walker said. “Just visit the program’s website, and enter your information. The information then comes to our office, and we manage the system in our area.”
Walker said that enrollment of eligible children in Prairieland United Way’s service area in the Imagination Library program was currently at approximately 40 percent. Ultimately, Walker said the agency wants to enroll every eligible child in the reading program.
“We started last April, and we currently have just over 40 percent of eligible children enrolled,” Walker said. “Our goal is 100 percent. We would like to have all eligible children participating.”
Walker indicated that the age-appropriate Imagination Library book selection changes over time and is vetted by of educators and literacy experts.
Each year, the Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee, a specially selected panel of early childhood literacy experts, is responsible for reviewing hundreds of potential titles for inclusion in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Recent studies suggest participation in the Imagination Library is positively and significantly associated with higher measures of early language and math development. The Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee takes great care in choosing books that meet the different needs of children as they progress from birth to age five.
All books in the program are published by Penguin Random House.
Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book-gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has gifted nearly 200 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and The Republic of Ireland. The Imagination Library mails more than 2 million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to enrolled children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading and inspiring children to dream more, learn more, care more and be more.
The impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Together, Dolly Parton and her book gifting organization have received honors and awards for their dedication to enriching the lives of children everywhere.
Most recently, the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy (2022), the Eric Carle Angel Award (2022), The Library of Congress Rubinstein Award (2021),The Best Practices award from the Library of Congress Literacy Awards (2014), recognition in Reading Psychology (2012) and the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001), are among a few of the prestigious acknowledgments the program has received.
For more information, contact Prairieland United Way at 217-245-4557.
