Matthew Moore: The recent death of Dolly Parton is a reminder of the legacy she leaves behind. Whether that's her career as a musician, an entrepreneur, or especially as an advocate for childhood literacy. Sara Drew is the development, communications and marketing director for Arkansas Imagination Library. She says when she heard about the passing of Dolly, she felt immediate grief.
Sara Drew: I've been involved with the program for about 10 years as an employee, you know, as part of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. But, you know, when my son was young, we were super excited when it came to Pulaski County. And I had him enrolled immediately. He was about 3 years old, I think, when Pulaski County finally got it. So I've been aware of the program for much longer.
So yeah, it was one of just the leader, you know, our leaders passed, and she really was, she was intimately involved in the program. And a true champion. It's definitely her legacy.
Moore: I think that when you have a career as long as Dolly did, there are seasons of people's lives who have different, like, grounding and foundational experiences with her in her career. And I think for people who are, you know, around our age, people who have kids, people who have young people in their life, more often than not, they associate Dolly with books and literacy.
Drew: Yeah, they do. I think anyone my age and older, it's music. And anyone my age and younger, it's because they've always received her books.
And I think that's great. I think that's exactly what she established her foundation for, was to help in any way she possibly could. And of course, you know, always helping out where she's from. And it's also because of who Dolly was. Just completely wonderful. Beautiful and polarizing figure that everyone loved. Even without the music, you know, even if she wasn't such a talented, amazing musician.
Moore: When you talk about the Imagination Library, Arkansas sits in some pretty elite, you know, area here, because it was one of the very first states to have a statewide program. Early on in the Imagination Library creation, it was a bit of piecemeal across states or across counties. Arkansas was the third state in the U.S. to have a statewide Imagination Library. Tell me a little bit about how that came together and what that's been like to work with.
Drew: Sure. So, you know, we have many counties in Arkansas and groups of volunteers and people who did not want to wait around. Obviously, they wanted the program in their county. And they said, why, you know, why can't we? So they started doing that, you know, a long time ago.
But there's areas that have a much larger population of zero to 5 year olds, for instance, or areas that are really tough to get a local program partner, which has to be a nonprofit, to manage the program and raise funds. So the governor at the time, Asa Hutchinson, wanted to form a statewide organization to really help us bridge that. We were at 54 counties to get us all the way to 75, and we were at 11,000 enrollment, you know, and now we sit at 82,000 children in the state enrolled.
So that was the work of the Arkansas Imagination Library since 2018, I believe, is our IRS letter date. So we've been working towards that and achieved that. Like I said, in 2020, as far as that statewide.
And then we also achieved becoming a line item in the state government. So we have always been able to provide all of our local program partners 50% match to all of the costs. So for instance, it cost $2.60 to buy a child a book every month, you know, so if you think about what it costs at Barnes and Noble, you know, easily $10 to $30 per book, but we cut that cost in half to $1.30. So it's $1.30 a month per child to get a book a month.
And so we were able to achieve all of that, because that was essentially what the statewide organization was tasked with doing. And so that growth would have happened a lot slower. I think it still would have happened, but to get, you know, 50% matching funding for an area like Benton County or Washington County or, like, Pulaski, you really had to bring a much larger local program partner involved and get all the school districts involved and that kind of thing. So it just took a little bit longer.
Moore: When you hear from parents individually, what are their experiences like? What are the stories that really stick out to you when you think about the work that Imagination Library is able to do?
Drew: Yeah, those are my favorite, and I'm sure that you have your own as well. But for me, it's just, you know, as a child, I can remember getting mail with my name on it. So I know how important and special that is.
And so obviously we want the kids to be enrolled. For instance, we have lots of statewide partnerships with hospitals where you can enroll your child at the hospital, which is what we want. We want the children to be enrolled when they're born, because that's the most impact is zero to 3, you know. So the first person we're mailing those books to are parents, and parents are saying, well, this is a monthly reminder to me of not only to read to my child, but why it's important, because a lot of parents don't believe or know how important it actually is to start those early literacy concepts at age zero. So that's great. We're providing education. We're providing that monthly reminder that then becomes a nightly routine from age zero, you know, and you can't ask for more than that.
And then of course, the second that the kid can walk, they're getting their mail out of the mailbox and tugging on parents to say, read to me now, read to me now, read to me this book, and read to me this book every single night, and read to me this page every single night over and over again, you know. And that's, as a parent, it can be kind of frustrating, but that's literacy. That's that child learning, you know, how the font works from left to right, how to open a book, you know, chewing on it, you know, all those board books they get. Because the books that we send are these quality, classic, time tested, you know. Zero to 1 year olds get board books. You know, 5 year olds get these great classic "Llama Llama" books, you know, all the "Corduroy," all the classics.
So we hear just over and over again how precious the program has become to their family, how when they get that last book in the mail, you know, children cry, or the parents cry, or, you know, it's just such this wonderful time that they have with their children. And so for me, for instance, when, you know, my child graduated, and of course we always had hundreds of library books all over the floor anyways, we decided to every month just go to a store and purchase a book to continue the tradition. And of course, it would be a book that he picked out that he really wanted. But I don't think I would have started doing that if it hadn't been for the Imagination Library. We always would have had hundreds of library books.
And then another thing is that educators, kindergarten teachers, preschoolers are constantly telling us how, you know, it's like a black and white line. They can draw down a room to see which kids were read to and which kids were, for instance, enrolled in the Imagination Library and which kids weren't, when they get those classes every year. And then we have a lot of research data to back that up, not just internationally, nationally, but in the state of Arkansas we do. We work with ADE and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to do kindergarten readiness assessments for those enrolled and those not, to see what those scores are. So we do that every couple of years just to see that yes, this program makes a huge difference in kindergarten readiness.
Moore: There are more than 82,000 kids across Arkansas who are receiving books. 45% of Arkansas' newborns to 5-year-olds are enrolled in the Imagination Library. When I hear those numbers, I'm very encouraged. But it's also something where I hear 45%, and I'm sure you think the same way too, is like that means 55% are not enrolled.
Drew: Yes, that's absolutely exactly what I think. So there are some counties, for instance, where we have 100%. Newton County, Garland County, which is much larger. You know, and so there's some places in the state where it's much easier, or they have a much larger, for instance, volunteer base, or they have an actual program that's running it where there's an employee, you know.
And then some, the Fort Smith, Scott, you know, that's the United Way of Fort Smith that's in charge of all five of those counties. So it's not just, you know, the Imagination Library that they're raising funding for and trying to do enrollment for. It's a whole bunch of different programs and a whole lot of different counties. So there's a lot of different, I think, barriers that we face across the state of Arkansas, and everyone's doing their best.
But it's much easier, because you can just go online and enroll your child. And the funding is there for the most part and most of these counties. So it's really just getting the word out, raising awareness. And for whatever reason, most people do choose to enroll their child when they hear about the program, and it's all the children, every child in the house, you know. There's not a limit.
So I think mainly it's just about making sure everyone knows about it, so at least they can make the decision of whether they want to get free books or not. But that's the number one priority for us. And then of course, making sure that funding is there for the local program partners to be able to afford all of the kids that enroll. But for the most part, and just making sure the parents know that the program exists. And we definitely want all kids enrolled.
Moore: As tragic as a moment like this is, I also imagine this is an opportunity to remind people of the importance of this work. And especially when you think of it from a fundraising perspective, it's an opportunity where I'm sure you're hearing from people who want to give more, who are already giving. You're hearing from people who haven't had an opportunity to give yet and are looking at getting involved. What are some ways that, whether their organizations or their individual donors, that they can participate to make sure that we move that needle up from 45% up to 100%?
Drew: Yeah, absolutely. So we have a presence in every county in the state. So if you contact Arkansas Imagination Library, if you contact me, I can put you in touch with your local program partner or that person. They always need people to serve on their boards, on committees, to do fundraising, to go to back to school events. All of those places that we need to be in every little niche community, making sure parents know, you know, this exists here. Let me help you enroll your child.
And then everyone, you know, if you wanted to donate in honor of Dolly, because this is her legacy. This was her passion project and what she wanted people to remember her for, always. You can go to, the Imagination Library has their own donation site. And if you wanted to donate in the state of Arkansas, I would go to arkansasimaginationlibrary.org/give. And then you can even pick a county or region that you specifically want to support.
Moore: I want to end here with, you know, you had an opportunity to meet Dolly when she came back in 2022 to the state of Arkansas. What was your experience like meeting her, and what's a lasting impression that she has on you?
Drew: Oh, Dolly's just genuine. I mean, she, like I said, she is exactly what she seems like when you meet her. It's like meeting someone you've always known. When she sings it, she doesn't change. Like, it's just her singing. And the main difference is she took a step up to be on top of a stage. There's no difference in who she is and with any different audience. So it was really magical to see that happening right in front of me.
You just don't see or meet people like that. And the way to carry yourself and the way to present yourself and just always be who you are. I mean, she's surrounded by security. She's surrounded by people who do her hair and do all the things, but yet she's, you know, we can talk about recipes, or what we talked about, which is how tall we are and where she got her high heels from. And, you know, so she's just quintessentially exactly who she is. And she was this amazing, beautiful person. So it's a perfect package, just to see it. All right there. Somebody that brilliant and that genius at being who they are, and all other things that they brought to the table.
Moore: So, Sara, anything I missed?
Drew: And I'm sure we touched on here, because you are in Northwest Arkansas, those are our two lowest enrollment counties. And it's because we don't have a local program partner there right now. We're looking desperately to find one. But it is also our two most expensive counties outside of Pulaski, because you have the largest zero to 5 population. We are looking actively for local program partners, and lots of people want to help, but not one individual organization has been able to step up and say, yes, I can afford the whole entire program. So we are trying to get a lot of people to the table.
Moore: Sara Drew is with the Arkansas Imagination Library. You can learn more about how to enroll your child or make a donation at arkansasimaginationlibrary.org.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
