The Clayton County Imagination Library served over 500 children this year with free monthly books delivered to their mailboxes. Support from local funders is key to this initiative of the Clayton County Foundation for the Future.
The Imagination library has received grants from the Dan Barton Family Endowment, McDonough Foundation, Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation and Theisen’s More For Your Community program. The Foundation also received an anonymous gift toward its current fundraising campaign that was earmarked for its Imagination Library.
“Thanks to these generous funders, we were able to mail over 5,500 books this year to kids under 5 across the county,” says the Foundation’s executive director, Emily Sadewasser. “Since we started our chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in July of 2022, we’ve served over 700 children and mailed more than 11,000 books – all because of organizations and individuals who believe in the importance of early literacy.”
Sadewasser has been leading efforts to fundraise for the program, which is free to families but costs the chapter $2.20 per book. The current goal is to enroll at least half of the 1,500 eligible children in the county service area and cover associated program expenses for the next 3 years. Long-term, the Foundation plans to build an endowment to support the initiative.
Reading is a critical skill, and proficiency is a key indicator of school success. Yet, a child's life experiences greatly affect their literacy. Studies have shown that a middle-class child enters first grade with over 1,000 hours of one-on-one picture book reading, compared with an average of just 25 hours for a child from a low-income family.
The Foundation's goal is to support reading skills among all children. “Our chapter of the Imagination Library will inspire an early love of reading in Clayton County children, regardless of socio-economic status,” says Sadewasser.
To enroll your child in the program or make a gift visit dbqfoundation.org/CCFFliteracy.
Photo: UMGC Board member Ellen Johnson, left, and UMGC President Liz Breitbach, right, present a $5,000 UMGC grant to CCFF Executive Director Emily Sadewasser, center, for the Clayton County Imagination Library.
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