First Lady Maureen Braun announced a "significant investment" in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Indiana Wednesday. Braun was tasked with finding philanthropic support for the program after the governor and legislature eliminated its state funding.
The CenterPoint Energy Foundation donated $500,000 to the statewide program.
The Imagination Library is a nonprofit early childhood reading program that mails books to children from birth to 5 years old.
The Dollywood Foundation launched the program in Sevier County, Tennessee in 1995.
Timberly Pierce, the foundation's director of North America, said kids enrolled in the program at birth will receive 60 books by the time they go to kindergarten.
"We know that kids who read, succeed," Pierce said. "And focusing on those early years is critical, because 80 percent of a child's brain is developed by the time they turn 3 years old."
Braun said early childhood literacy has a wealth of benefits for Hoosier children, including brain development and vocabulary.
"This matters for the future of our children," she said. "And this matters to all of us, as a community, to help fund the Imagination Library."
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CenterPoint Energy Foundation's June Deadrick said the donation helps promote the overall wellbeing of Indiana's children.
"We are very proud to help the First Lady and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to provide books — the very tools needed — to insure that Indiana has the young readers of today who will become your state leaders of tomorrow."
Former Gov. Eric Holcomb funded half of the program's statewide expansion with $6 million in state funding in 2023. Gov. Mike Braun announced in February his administration would eliminate that support.
Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social.
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