Letter to the Editor- The Brookville American
I speak for our entire Imagination Library of Franklin County (ILFC) Board when I state that we have had an incredibly stressful past week. On Friday, February 14 we learned Governor Braun had eliminated all funding for the statewide Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program in the 2025 budget. Upon hearing this news, we reached out to several local organizations to get the word out. We also contacted our state legislature representative and senator; both responded later in the week with support for the program – this we appreciate.
To provide some background, our local program began in 2007 when Mr. Don Jobe formed a committee to learn about and initiate the program locally. It was supported by the Franklin County Retired Teacher Association, FCHS Book Club, and the Brookville Foundation. United Way of Franklin County served as the fiscal agent until ILFC became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2008. The first children were enrolled in ILFC at the Stayin’ Alive Family Fun Day in 2008. Branson Russell was the first child enrolled that day, and ILFC was proud to celebrate with him as a FCHS 2024 graduate. The statewide program started in 2023.
Our mission is to encourage a love of reading and lifelong learning. We have done this successfully in Franklin County for 17 years by providing age-appropriate books to enrolled children who live in Franklin County – age birth to 5 years – at no cost to the child’s family. The books are addressed to the child and arrive in the mail monthly. We applauded the state in 2023 when it made the program statewide & promised to share one-half of the funding with the local organizations.
Our number of enrolled children was from 365-380 monthly for several years before the state entered to increase enrolled children & provide one-half funding. Almost two years in, our enrollment has almost doubled (639- February 2025). In January alone we welcomed 38 new children—we are growing fast! Removing state funding would be devastating to our very successful program. We learned late Friday that the governor is tasking his wife to seek outside funding for the state’s portion to ensure the success of this valuable program. We will follow this news carefully — and hope she is successful.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a shared responsibility and successful program. Here is how it works: The Dollywood Foundation provides a Blue Ribbon Book Selection Committee to annually pick the age-appropriate books, provides and maintains the online book order system database, coordinates the monthly book orders & wholesale purchasing, mails the books to enrolled children, and covers all overhead and administrative expenses to achieve this “love of reading magic”. The local organization (ILFC) makes the program accessible in our community, enrolls eligible children in the database, promotes the program locally, and PROVIDES FUNDS TO COVER THE COST OF BOOKS & POSTAGE. This should clear up any misconception that the books are free. To provide funding we rely on local donors (individuals, businesses, & civic organizations), grants, and board members working at annual events like the IGA cookout. Research shows it increases childhood literacy and promotes families reading together. It operates in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.
ILFC appreciates your support and hopes you will become a sustaining donor. It costs approximately $30 a year to provide a child with an age-appropriate book – addressed to the child and arriving in the mail monthly – to truly develop a love of reading & lifelong learning!
Thank you,
Linda A. Rosenberger
ILFC President
Gov. Holcomb launches a statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
INDIANAPOLIS- Governor Eric J. Holcomb today kicks off the statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library , which gifts free, high quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five on a monthly basis, regardless of family income. Gov. Holcomb announced Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library statewide expansion as part of his 2023 Next Level Agenda.
The goal of the statewide expansion is to make books available to children ages 0 – 5 in every zip code in Indiana. The program is free to enrolled children and will soon be available to more children and families in Indiana.
“I learned from a very young age that reading is the key to education and opportunity,” Gov. Holcomb said. “The ability to read can transport children to places they have never been before and open doors they never knew existed. By making Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library available in every zip code, we are giving Hoosier children the tools they need for literary success.”
On May 4, 2023, Gov. Holcomb signed legislation into law that allotted $6 million over the biennium, $2 million in the first year and $4 million in the second year, as part of a community share to expand the program to every zip code in the state.
“It takes a lot of great people working together to make this possible, and I want to thank Governor Holcomb, the Indiana General Assembly, State Librarian Jake Speer and all our Local Community
Partners across the state who helped make this dream a reality,” Dolly Parton said.
The Indiana State Library will coordinate the program and provide the state’s match to interested organizations or individuals to become local program partners. Currently in Indiana, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is available in 54 counties and is partially available in eight counties, with expansion plans to fully cover the entire state – all 92 counties. Starting Sept. 1, current local Imagination Library partners will only pay 50% of their local program cost with the remaining 50% paid by the state.
To check to see if a program is available in your area, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com. You can enroll your child or sign up to be notified when a program comes to your community.
About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
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 over 200 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and The Republic of Ireland. This is achieved through funding shared by The Dollywood Foundation and Local Program Partners. The Imagination Library mails more than 2.4 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 program has been widely researched and results demonstrate its positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.