Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Every child deserves access to the world of imagination and learning that comes through reading. 
 

Luckily, American country music icon Dolly Parton felt the same way. In 1995, she created the Imagination Library, book-giving program that mails high-quality age-appropriate books to all registered children, from birth to age 5, at no cost to the child's family. It’s entirely free for participants and audio and braille books are also available. 
 

From distributing 1,700 books in its first order nearly 20 years ago, the Imagination Library has grown by leaps and bounds to now sending more than 2 million books per month to children around the world. In total, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 229 million books as of January 2024.  
 

Statewide coverage was established in Parton's home state of Tennessee in 2004. Today, it has been extended to 18 more states and has an international reach as well.  
 

We plan to introduce legislation to launch the Imagination Library statewide program in Pennsylvania. Currently, over 53,000 children are enrolled in Pennsylvania across 44 counties. However, there are approximately 700,000 eligible children in the Commonwealth. A statewide program will support local affiliates with resources to reach even more kids and help them develop a lifelong love of reading. 
 

Please join us in co-sponsoring this important legislation.