Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Golisano Children’s launch partnership

Just months ago, the future of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program in Kentucky looked unsure.

But on Wednesday afternoon, the program’s partnership with Golisano Children’s at UK kicked off, a sign of promise for the program. Now, every baby born at Golisano Children’s can be directly enrolled in the program. Newborns will receive their first book, “The Little Engine That Could,” to take home directly from the hospital.

Children and their families gathered in the lobby of the children’s hospital, formerly Kentucky Children’s Hospital, along with Kentucky state Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, R-Lexington, Rep. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, and Dr. Scottie Day, physician-in-chief of UK Golisano Children’s and vice president of children’s health at UK HealthCare.

The group participated in a reading of “The Little Engine That Could” to launch the partnership with the Imagination Library.

Since its founding in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program mails an age-appropriate book to children every month from birth to age five at no cost to families. Parton started this program to reduce barriers to reading for families in honor of her own father, who could not read.

“The Imagination Library has meant as much, if not more, to me than nearly anything that I have done,” Parton said during her visit in August 2024 to celebrate the statewide availability of the program.

Around 51% of all Kentucky children under the age of five are currently enrolled in the program, according to UK. Bledsoe said having a book to take home from the hospital is just as important as other supplies for a newborn.

“You do bath time, you do reading time, and you set the child up to dream big dreams and to think that they can do big things, and that gets even more special, as an adult, when they see you reading, they know that’s an important thing,” Bledsoe said. “And as we say, a child who reads is an adult who thinks, and we need more thinkers in today’s world.”

The program, funded in part by the Kentucky Legislature and local community partners, experienced financial worries at the beginning of this year that threatened the future of its operations.

Last December, the Fayette Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that covers half of the program’s operating expenses in Fayette County, announced that it would have to pause services due to rising costs and limited sustainable funding.

It was then able to resume operations in March due to an anonymous donation, according to the foundation officials. The donation would match any donation dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000 for a six-month window.

A local partner in each county enrolls children and raises money to pay for the books themselves, and since 2021, with unilateral support, the state budget has matched the funding of local partner. However, in March, the budget bill passed by the Kentucky Senate proposed to slash the state funds allocated to the program to cover one-third of the program’s costs.

The final version of House Bill 500 did not include the proposed funding change, restoring the funding-match promise. The final version also directs the Department for Libraries and Archives and Cabinet for Health and Family Services to collaborate on “researching ways to increase enrollment” for children from low-income households and living in foster care.

“Partnerships like this one right here start the foundation for every child’s life,” Aull said. “It helps ensure that we begin with the opportunity, and to the families here, those few minutes that you spend reading together matter more than you could ever imagine. They certainly have for me and my family.”

Day said access to books from birth brings about new opportunities for knowledge for Kentucky families.

“We talk about health disparities, we talk about poverty, we talk about the challenges that face the commonwealth,” Day said. “I mean, this, although, you’re just giving a book, it’s a huge deal for so many families.”

Aull commended Bledsoe for her work on getting the funding restored to the state budget, and Bledsoe emphasized the importance of access to reading from childhood.

“When you start that at an early age, you’re bonding and you’re setting the stage and giving that kid the expectation they can read and can go on to do good things,” Bledsoe said. “So it definitely made me an avid partner, a vocal partner in that, and I wasn’t the only one, but you don’t mess with Dolly, you know. I think that it was pretty evident that from the citizenry of Kentucky that they needed and expected us to step up, and I’m glad we did.”