Hello Dolly

New Britain is joining Imagination Library Program

Whatever Dolly Parton put in her “cup of ambition,” must have been strong stuff since she’s made it her cause to help every child in America read through her Imagination Library. With partners throughout the country - and worldwide - she just might be able to do it. With programs already located in several Connecticut municipalities, a new branch is opening in New Britain.

Parton’s program is simple. Launching in 1995, her organization gave books to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee, where the singer grew up. Each month, no matter the income of the family, from birth to age five, children get the books mailed free. By the year 2000, it became clear that the success of this program was replicable on a national scale.

In 2020, the program was piloted in Hartford, and now thousands of children are enrolled there, equating to more than 80,000 books distributed per information from a Hartford Courant article. It is supported by the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. Thanks to funding secured by Representative Jahana Hayes, that program is now expanding to New Britain.

The Imagination Library was inspired by Dolly Parton’s roots. In a letter to supporters she said that her father considered the Imagination Library the most important thing she had ever done. A heartwarming, but also tragic fact, considering that Dolly states that her father’s inability to read “kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.”

While this might seem like a problem from the past, today, 25 million children still cannot read proficiently.

Only 37% of students graduate high school at or above reading proficiency for their age. This problem, like so many education-related issues, became worse over the pandemic – from a study cited in a New York Times article on the subject said that reading levels have reached 20-year lows.

You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children.

Recently, a bill was introduced to make Connecticut the 16th state to fund the program statewide, according to the Courant article, just after Californian voted to do the same.

Right now, just Hartford, Kent, Stratford, Stamford, Torrington have listings on the Imagination Library website.

If her father’s words ring true, then Dolly Parton, a titan of Country music, might be more remembered for her contributions to the education of children than for her songs. She was recently awarded a Carnegie Medal for her work in Philanthropy. For the thousands of children who have benefited from this program, they can spin one of her many classic records in her father’s honor.