Thousands of Hartford Children Building At-Home Libraries Thanks to Local Sponsors - and a Star

It’s not often that you’d expect to hear “Dolly Parton” and “Hartford” in the same sentence, but it seems you shouldn’t be surprised.

United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Connecticut Children’s and the City of Hartford announced this week that nearly 80,000 books have been delivered to more than 6,700 Hartford children since Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was brought to the City in October of 2020.  Eighty thousand.

Those books, officials point out, set the stage for children’s physical development, mental health and academic success. Imagination Library is a free book subscription program to increase early literacy skills and foster a love of reading. Children ages 0-5 enrolled in the program receive a free age-appropriate book by mail every month, building a home library of 60 books for children enrolled at birth by the start of kindergarten. 

“United Way is committed to ensuring that young children get the best start. We know how critical it is for children to read at grade-level by the start of the fourth grade and exposing them to books at an early stage can make a huge difference in their future. We are thrilled to have reached 70 percent of families since Imagination Library’s introduction to our community,” said Michael Goldbas, Advocacy Committee Chair, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut.  “As a long-time United Way Readers volunteer, I’ve seen the joy in their faces when they improve their reading skills and how confident it makes them feel,”

The announcement of the milestone was timed to coincide with National Literacy Month, celebrated this month. The program launched by country music superstar Dolly Parton has grown to include local community partners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland.  Including Hartford.  The Tennessee-based Dollywood Foundation coordinates the program, launched in 1995.  Imagination Library, which includes over 2,700 local program partners, has gifted over 2,243,014 books.

James E. Shmerling, DHA, FACHE, President and CEO at Connecticut Children’s added, “Our pediatric experts know that reading at an early age is critical for brain development and future academic success. We are proud to be one of the partners to bring this project to Connecticut, and with the support of United Way, make sure we all commit to the healthy development of our children.”

The organization recently announced plans for the expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to New Britain, thanks to Congresswoman Jahana Hayes earmarking funds from the Omnibus Bill.

“United Way has proved capable of making this program work effectively for the benefit of our children, but a continued investment would help to ensure its sustainability in Hartford and statewide. We know we can’t do this work alone and so it requires all sectors, public and private, to make sure we can provide this valuable opportunity for our children,” added Goldbas.

“This partnership gives every young child in Hartford the chance to build their own library — to discover a new book every month and to have a shelf full of books that they can go back to again and again,” said Mayor Bronin. “I love this partnership, because there are few things more important than helping kids fall in love with books and reading.”

“Nearly three quarters of the children born in Hartford since we launched this program have enrolled in the Imagination Library, and that means thousands of kids have gotten many thousands of books,” Bronin added.  “I’m incredibly grateful to Jim Shmerling and to Connecticut Childrens for bringing this partnership to us and making Hartford the first city in the state to launch the Imagination Library, and grateful to United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut for their support and work. We look forward to seeing this partnership grow here in Hartford and hopefully statewide.”

To enroll an eligible child in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, visit unitedwayinc.org.

Photo Caption (Left to Right): Mayor Luke Bronin, City of Hartford; Rossie Alcantara with her son, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library participating family; Merelys Torres-Garcia, Home Visitor at The Village; and, James E. Shmerling, President & CEO, Connecticut Children’s.