Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is asking Indiana Governor Mike Braun to reconsider the state's decision to cut funding from the organization, which gives young children access to free books in an effort to promote literacy.
According to local reports by South Bend Tribune, lawmakers in the Indiana House recently proposed a change in a two-year budget plan that would no longer include the usual 50 percent matching funds the state provides to run the program. The organization, the United Way and local community foundations make up the rest of the funds needed for Imagination Library.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, the president of the Dollywood Foundation, Jeff Conyers, said, “I am hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state’s funding match for local Imagination Library programs. The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all—regardless of politics—because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.”
The country musician created Parton’s Imagination Library to serve young readers across the country and around the globe, providing children with one book a month from birth to age five. Nearly 30 years after it began, the program has sent books to more than 240 million kids in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. In Indiana, the program is thriving, serving every county in the state. The Imagination Library has been credited with improving the state’s national child literacy rate from 19th to 6th.
The state’s outgoing Republican Governor, Eric Holcomb, said in a piece for the IndyStar, “One of these days, Dolly Parton will pay us a visit to celebrate the statewide embrace of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, another tool to help our kids read.”
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