Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library launches in Centre County. How to get involved

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now available to local families, with the Centre County United Way behind the effort to promote literacy and a love of reading through the book gifting program.

Founded in 1995, Imagination Library is a program that provides children across the nation and overseas from birth to age 5 with books each month at no cost. With no eligibility or income requirements, the program has gifted over 200 million books since its inception.

Bringing Imagination Library to Centre County is something the CCUW has been looking to do for about five years, CCUW Communications Coordinator Megan Evans said. It will be the organization’s first direct service program.

The program will replace CCUW’s annual Raising Readers Book Drive, where the organization delivered books donated by community members to local preschools to be distributed to students. The Imagination Library guarantees the delivery of new, age-appropriate books to every registered Centre County child each month.

“(Imagination Library) just seemed like a more cost-efficient way of including the parents, the kids and making it accessible for everyone. Especially out in the farther areas of our county where kids aren’t able to get into the library,” Evans said.

With a focus on health, education and financial stability, CCUW Executive Director Paula Williams said the program is an exciting way to focus on the importance of early childhood education and level the playing field for Centre County preschool children.

The books are selected by the Imagination Library’s Blue Ribbon Selection Committee — a panel of early childhood literacy experts who consider developmental milestones as well as titles specific to the regions it serves.

Kids enrolled at birth could have a library of 60 books by the time they start kindergarten, Evans said.

“Preschool costs can be a little expensive and not accessible for a lot of people,” she said. “So not every child is getting the same opportunities to start kindergarten at the same basic level. By doing this program, we’re kind of upping those odds a little bit.”

With more than 5,000 children eligible in Centre County, the organization’s biggest challenge is funding the program. Donations from the organization’s annual campaign will not go toward the program, as those funds support the CCUW’s partner agencies. Instead, the CCUW is confident that community members will rally behind early childhood literacy.

Constant fundraising is essential to sustaining the program beyond its first year. It costs $26.40 for one child to receive a free book every month in a year.

“Centre County’s Imagination Library relies fully on community funding,” Williams wrote in an email. “The number of children we can serve is dependent on the number of dollars we can raise specifically for the program.”

Community members can donate to CCUW via check, cash or credit card, or using the Imagination Library website and specifying Centre County, allowing the donation to go directly to the program.

Law firm McQuaide Blasko, which previously sponsored the Raising Readers program, helped get the program off to a strong start, providing a donation that will help serve 300 kids.

“Since 2017, McQuaide Blasko has worked with Centre County United Way to put more books in the hands of young children to help them develop a passion for reading,” attorney Philip Miles said in a written statement. “We look forward to continuing this mission in collaboration with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.”

CCUW is looking to partner with other businesses and local organizations to support the program, in addition to applying for grants in hopes of having enough money to serve at least 700 during the first year.

Registration for eligible families in Centre County — those with children up to 5 years old — opens April 1. Visit Imagination Library’s website to register or visit ccunitedway.org/imagination-library for more information.