Featured Fund: Dolly Parton Imagination Library Fund
Published: November 10, 2017 by Johnson County Community Foundation
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library Fund was established in Franklin in 2017 by Dr. Susan Crisafulli.
Despite the community’s strong public library system and numerous preschools, around 40% of Franklin Community School Corporation kindergarteners cannot identify letters or the sounds those letters make when they start the school year.
The Imagination Library program has the potential to increase literacy skills for Franklin preschoolers, leading to greater kindergarten readiness and higher academic performance in later years.
The Franklin program is an affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which began in 1996. It provides one book a month to children from birth to age 5, for a total of 60 free books by the time the children enter kindergarten. The Imagination Library has now sent over 85.4 million books to preschoolers.
Dr. Crisafulli chose to establish the fund at JCCF because she was attracted by the helpfulness of the staff and the clarity of JCCF’s policies for fund management.
“JCCF provides fund management, but equally important is that they provide peace of mind,” said Dr. Crisafulli.
Donate to the fund here.
