Several local Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program clinics across the state, including in Bucyrus, are receiving new reading spaces for children.
Developed by the Ohio Department of Health and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, the reading spaces are cozy, colorful areas stocked with books for kids to enjoy as their families spend time at the clinic.
Designed in the form of a tree, flower or seed in the various WIC locations, the reading spaces take visual inspiration from the Imagination Library book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
Reading space locations selected based on literacy data
The Crawford County WIC office, 1520 Isaac Beal Road, Bucyrus, is one of 10 locations in Ohio where a reading space will be added in the coming weeks. The clinics were selected based on regional early childhood literacy data, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio participation rates, kindergarten readiness scores and access to nearby library resources.
The locations serve more than 33,000 families each month.
Each of the reading spaces will feature a QR code families can scan to enroll children in the Imagination Library program.
While only select locations will add the reading spaces, all WIC clinics can assist families in enrolling children in Imagination Library.
ODH’s WIC program serves more than 135,000 infants and children up to age 5 each month statewide.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio mails children one age-appropriate book each month until his or her fifth birthday, at no cost to the family. Over 410,000 Ohio children are participating in the program. That’s 62% of state’s eligible children.
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