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In between winning Grammy awards and funding life-saving vaccines, country music legend Dolly Parton has built a massive book delivery program that puts over 2 million free books in young children’s hands each month.
Now literacy advocates in New York, where Parton’s Imagination Library is available in 79 locations, want Gov. Kathy Hochul to allocate funds to take the program statewide, reports Spectrum News. Legislation creating a state partnership with the program, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year, would ensure that books reach more children and lifts some of the financial burden off nonprofit organizations.
While Parton’s Dollywood Foundation covers overhead costs, it’s community organizations like the United Way that pay for postage and the actual costs of the books.
Twelve states currently contribute funds and have programs that reach all of their counties. Additionally, nine states are in the process of expanding their programs and one, New Mexico, will launch soon, according to Imagination Library.
In August, Parton celebrated the growth of the program in Tennessee, where it began almost 30 years ago.
In Ohio, a partnership state, the nonprofit Literacy Cooperative in Cleveland conducts an annual survey to measure the impact on families. “We ask lots of questions, but what I zero in on is, ‘Does your child want to read more since getting these books?’ ” CEO Robert Paponetti told FreshWater, a local news site.
“The overwhelming answer is yes.”
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