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Join us this Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in supporting the youth in our community!
- Sponsor a Child: This holiday season you can give the gift of reading by sponsoring a child and providing free monthly books. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library opens doors for children and inspires imagination, helping families and children learn and grow together. A $30 sponsorship ensures one child in our community can receive these books for an entire year. SPONSOR A CHILD.
United Way of Cowlitz & Wahkiakum Counties is the program partner for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Program
to children in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties! The program offers Cowlitz and Wahkiakum resident children ages birth-5 years old, a FREE brand new, age-appropriate book every month until their 5th birthday month.
Books are delivered directly to the child's home! Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is considered a world-class program for childhood success and preparing children to enter kindergarten ready! Data has shown participating children have higher kindergarten assessment scores than non-participants. United Way is dedicated to ensuring that by 2032, 80% of local children in Cowlitz & Wahkiakum Counties are prepared for kindergarten. By investing in our children, we are investing in the strength of our community for generations to come.
Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Study (link to study)
Imagination Library of Washington did a pilot study with the Longview School District. Over the 2023-2024 school year, Longview Public Schools tracked 425 kindergarten students by asking parents if their child participated in the Imagination Library as part of their enrollment package. 26.6% of students were enrolled.
Results showed that students, both low-income and not low-income, who enrolled in DPIL performed better (with a higher percentage of students meeting or exceeding all of the WaKIDS objective minimum targets) than their peers who were not enrolled.
- 85.7% of Imagination Library participants can write their names compared to 78.3% of their non-participant peers.
- 61.2% of Imagination Library participants can use print concepts, compared to 25.2% of their nonparticipant peers.
We are now working on getting tracking in all school districts in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties.