CAZENOVIA — This past spring, the Cazenovia Public Library (CPL) received a $10,000 grant from the Central New York Community Foundation to fund the continuation of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) of Madison County.
The DPIL is a book-gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children up to five years old, regardless of their family’s income. The books, which are selected by educators, are addressed and sent directly to the children on a monthly basis.
“Parents report that their children are so thrilled to receive mail in their name,” said CPL Director Betsy Kennedy. “We love to hear that, because it means the little ones will relate books to a happy event.”
According to CPL Children’s Education Coordinator Jenna Wright-Martin, the goals of the program are to improve kindergarten readiness, foster a love of reading, and create family connections through reading aloud.
“The ongoing [Madison County] program currently reaches nearly 1,200 children a month,” Wright-Martin said. “Every Madison County resident is eligible for the program.”
Wright-Martin also noted that in 2011, 11 percent of Madison County families were living in poverty, with 28 percent of children ages four and younger below the poverty line.
“This indicates that a significant number of families may not have the discretionary funds needed to purchase books,” she explained. “Combined with the dynamic of many parents working long hours and single parent households, the possibility of getting to a library or bookstore to introduce books and reading to children is limited. The program’s home delivery system helps alleviate this need. Research shows that increasing the number of books in the home increases kindergarten readiness.”
The Community Foundation grant will be used to supplement a large investment from a private donor — a former Cazenovia resident who wishes to remain anonymous — that has been used to cover the costs of shipping the books.
The grant was provided through the Community Foundation’s Community Grant program, which funds innovative projects in Onondaga and Madison counties that focus on the areas of arts and culture, civic affairs, education, health, human services and the environment.
The Central New York Community Foundation is a public charity established in 1927 that receives contributions from donors, manages them to grow over time and then distributes funding to local charities to help them thrive. It is the largest charitable foundation in Central New York with assets of more than $366 million and has invested more than $230 million in community improvement projects since its inception. As a grantmaker, civic leader, convener and sponsor of strategic initiatives, the Community Foundation strives to strengthen local nonprofits, encourage better understanding of the region and address the most critical issues of the time. To learn more, visit cnycf.org.
According to the DPIL website, Parton launched the Imagination Library in 1995 to benefit her home county in East Tennessee. Her vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. Starting in 2000, national replication allowed more communities to adopt the program. Statewide coverage was established in Tennessee in 2004. International growth led to expansion in Canada (2006), United Kingdom (2007) and Australia (2014).
The first book order in 1995 totaled just over 1,700. Today, DPIL sends more than one million books per month to children around the world.
The Imagination Library provides the infrastructure of the core program, which involves managing the secure central database for the book order system and coordinating book selections and wholesale purchasing. It also incurs the cost of the program’s administrative expenses and coordinates the monthly mailings.
The Imagination Library partners with local affiliates who help bring the program to cities, towns and communities. The affiliates are responsible for enrolling children who live within the geographical area in which the program is offered. While the Imagination Library negotiates wholesale pricing for the books, the affiliates are also responsible for securing funds to cover that cost.
To sign up for DPIL, register online at imaginationlibrary.com or stop by a local Madison County library to fill out a registration form and start receiving books.
For more information on CPL, visit cazenoviapubliclibrary.org.
