More than 600 kids in the Salem area are getting a free book monthly with some help from America’s favorite country singer.
Three months after launching, the local iteration of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has signed up 14% of kids from birth to age 5 who are eligible to participate.
That’s about two months ahead of a typical schedule for a newly-launched Imagination Library, said Lisa Harnisch, executive director of the Marion Polk Early Learning Hub, which administers the program.
“It just speaks to the community really seeing and valuing (the program),” she said. “Nobody has said, ‘I don’t want to do it.’”
The nationwide program started in 1995 as a way to boost child literacy and get books into the hands of kids who otherwise might not be able to afford them.
Parton’s foundation administers the program and selects books, which are then mailed to children across the U.S. A local nonprofit must sign up to enroll children in its area, and cover the cost of the books.
The learning hub launched the effort at the end of July for four local ZIP codes: 97301 (north Salem), 97303 (Keizer), 97344 (Falls City) and 97351 (Independence). Anyone with a child from birth to age 5 in those ZIP codes can sign up online to get free age-appropriate books, regardless of income.
Harnisch said the hub launched in those ZIP codes because kids entering kindergarten regularly have the lowest literacy scores in the region, based on assessments done at the start of a child’s time in school which measure their ability to recognize letters and sounds.
“These are our highest-need communities,” Harnisch said.
A survey several years ago in the area asked local families how many books they had at home, Harnisch told Salem Reporter when the program launched. Over 60% reported they had fewer than 10 books in total — including those for adults.
To spread the word, the hub has attended community events in covered ZIP codes with forms for families to fill out. The Keizer Community Library helped spread the word to Keizer families, she said, and school outreach workers at local elementary schools have also let families know.
The hub eventually hopes to expand the program to the rest of Salem, but Harnisch said they’re focused on sustainability and ensuring they can provide for all interested children long-term.
They have about $80,000 budgeted for the program’s first year to cover the cost of books, which includes money from Marie Lamfrom Community Foundation, DKG International Educators Foundation, Salem Rotary Literacy Committee, and the Bobbie Dolp, Doris J. Whipper, and Betsy Priddy advised funds of the Oregon Community Foundation.
Harnisch said the hub also received some money from the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation when it closed its doors in 2020, allowing them to keep the program sustainable. They’re actively applying for grants to expand.
“Before we expand to another area we want to make sure we have the money to do it,” she said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
