Dolly Parton's Imagination Library back in Richland County

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is operating again in Richland County after a several year absence.

A partnership between Richland Public Health, the Richland County Youth and Family Council and the Community Health Access Project to fund the program for 2024 was announced Tuesday during the Richland County commissioners regular meeting.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading and learning by gifting one age-appropriate book each month to children from birth to age 5 at no cost to families. The program was started in the county singer’s home state of Tennessee to share her family’s love of reading and has since spread worldwide.

Commissioner Tony Vero said the program operated for a number of years in Richland County until the state of Ohio and the library program decided in 2021 to regionalize the program and the local partnership and advocacy was taken away from the county and moved to a regional organization. He said the organization was unable to fulfill the program from a regional perspective, the program lapsed and Richland County was left without programming.

Vero said state library officials reached out to him this past fall as to why Richland County was one of the few counties in Ohio that did not have the program. After some research and meetings, he began working with the previous local partners to formulate the structure to bring the library back to Richland County.

Cost of the program is more than $117,000 annually

The funding plan calls for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ohio to pay the full cost for the first six months of the program and 50% for the second six months, with Richland Public Health, the YFC and CHAP covering the other 50%. With each book costing $2.20 for each child for every month, the total annual cost currently is $117,717.

Health Commissioner Dr. Julie Chaya said CHAP will be the nonprofit fiscal agent while Richland Public Health will be the administrator with the help of the YFC. CHAP is the Community Health Awareness Project, which was started 25 years ago to initially address infant mortality and low birth weight and has since been expanded to provide home and phone visits with people who are at the greatest health risk to help them deal with those risk factors.

Chaya pointed out that 4,459, or only 66%, of the county’s eligible children are registered in the Imagination Library program and that officials are determined to achieve 100% enrollment over the next year.

“We are thrilled to spearhead this initiative and provide the children of Richland County the opportunity to read, learn and grow with their families,” she said. “Extensive studies have shown that reading with young children is important for kindergarten readiness and improves health literacy."

Imagination Library donors and volunteers are needed

Chaya said officials are looking for local sponsors, donors and volunteers to keep the Richland County Imagination library “alive and thriving” in 2025. There also will be a coalition so volunteers can help with grant writing, marketing the program and doing family programming.

“We love giving out free stuff, but there has to be some kind of purpose and return on investment with it, so we want to make sure there are story times incorporated with it or other programs that will be very beneficial to parents or grandparents of their 0-to-5-year-old kids so that Richland County is not only a place to live, work and play, it’s also a place to grow and thrive as well, especially for young families,” Chaya said.

Commissioners Chairman Darrell Banks said the Imagination Library is a “great thing” to have back in Richland County. “Education is so founded on reading and to get them started early and books are entertaining as well as educational,” he said.

Commissioner Cliff Mears noted that books are important to him because much of his career was in the publishing industry. He also recalled a story he heard of how important books were to President Abraham Lincoln.

“He was asked what the greatest invention was of all time and he says, ‘It’s books because they allow the dead to speak to the living and the living to speak to those yet unborn,’ which I think is very profound,” Mears said.

Organizations or individuals who want to support the Richland County Imagination Library can call the Health Department at 419-774-4761 or go to richlandhealth.org. Anyone who wants information on the Richland County Imagination program or to enroll a child between the ages of birth to 5 should also visit the website.

Commissioners OK Youth and Family Council hire

In other business, commissioners hired Mansfield Senior High and University of Cincinnati graduate Rico Woods as multi-system youth coordinator for the Richland County Youth and Family Council. The position is responsible for supporting 20-25 youth with public services they may need and doing child needs and strengths assessments for Job and Family Services for children in placements in settings outside the home.

“He originally thought he was going to go into police work and be a police officer. He spent a short time attending a police academy and decided during that time that he wanted to support families and youth, but not in that capacity,” YFC Director Michelle Miller said. “He decided that when they are already are involved with a crime or in trouble, that wasn’t the way he wanted to go. He wanted to reach them sooner.”

Commissioners also accepted the retirement resignation of longtime Deputy Clerk Belinda Fulton, effective May 31.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library returns to in Richland County OH