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Report on Dolly's Library in Middletown Finds Significant Impact
On Families
Dolly Parton presents the 25 millionth Imagination Library book
at a ceremony held at Dollywood in June 2010
to Kumar Stewart of Birmingham, Ala., next to his sister,
Shinera, and in front of his parents, Ray and Shalisha Stewart,
and brother, Keylon. Photo by T. Duane Gordon.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
has had a sizeable positive impact on Middletown families who
have chosen to participate, a new report on the local chapter’s
first year and a half of operations released this week by the
Middletown Community Foundation has found.
The report utilized responses solicited
from parents whose children had been in the local chapter of the
international early childhood literacy program for the past 12
to 18 months.
Among other findings, the report showed:
100 percent of parents reported being satisfied
with the program.
Nearly 82 percent of parents reported that after
enrolling in the program they increased the frequency with which
they read to their children. When looking at families with low
income households only, this number increased to 98 percent.
92 percent of parents indicated their child’s
level of excitement and enthusiasm about books increased after
they started receiving Imagination Library volumes in the mail.
This increased to 95 percent for low-income children.
Nearly 97 percent of children were more interested
in books after registering for the program than they were
before, parents noted. This figure was 100 percent for children
living in low income households.
90 percent of children ask their parents to read
to them more now than they did before the books began arriving.
It increased to 97 percent when looking at low income households
only.
New students in the Middletown City School
District who had participated in the program for between one and
nine months scored on average 4.2 percent higher on their
kindergarten entrance literacy assessments than those who had
not received any books from the project.
Imagination Library books made up the majority of
children’s books in the homes of nearly one-third of low income
households among participants, compared to about one-sixth of
mid-to-upper income homes.
“As studies show the single most important
activity parents can do to prepare their children for school is
to read regularly to them from as early as possible in their
young lives, we view these positive changes in parental behavior
as major indicators of the tremendous success this program is
having in our community,” explained Middletown Community
Foundation Executive Director T. Duane Gordon, the report’s
author. “We just placed our August 2010 book order, which will
push the total number of books delivered in our community to
more than 13,500 volumes mailed directly to 1,067 children. We
are so privileged to be a part of this wonderful endeavor.”
The complete report is available online at
mcfoundation.org/report.pdf.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was
started by the entertainer in her home county in east Tennessee
in 1996 to provide one free, age-appropriate, expert-selected
book every month from a child’s birth until he or she turns 5
years old. Today, it operates in 1,200 communities throughout
the United States, Canada and Great Britain, including in 18
Ohio counties. It delivers books to nearly 560,000 children
worldwide each month and last month presented its 25 millionth
book since inception.
The parent of any child under the age of 5
residing in the Middletown City School District may register for
the program at mcfoundation.org/library. The Middletown chapter
is expected to expand in 2011 to the Monroe, Madison and
Edgewood school districts.
The local chapter was launched by the
Middletown Community Foundation in January 2009 in partnership
with the Miriam G. Knoll Charitable Foundation, Barnitz Fund of
JP Morgan Chase, Middletown Kiwanis Club, Middletown Rotary
Foundation, United Way of Greater Cincinnati-Middletown
Area/Women Living United, The Arthur Harvey Foundation,
Middletown Public Library, TV Middletown, Atrium Medical Center,
Middletown Post Office, Middletown City School District and
individual donors.
The Middletown Community Foundation works to improve the lives
of those in the greater Middletown area by serving as a
permanent source of funding for projects to benefit the
community. Founded in 1976 as part of the Middletown United Way,
the Community Foundation became an independent organization in
1986 and over the past 34 years has distributed tens of millions
of dollars in grants and college scholarships, with nearly $25
million granted out in the past 10 years alone. |
