Some of Rochester’s youngest kids are getting mail each month, and caregivers and educators say what’s in the package is helping them both at home and in the classroom.
About one in four preschoolers in Rochester are enrolled in the local chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program delivers a new book in the mail every month. Studies show the Imagination Library helps improve Kindergarten readiness and makes it more likely that families will read to their children.
This hour, we continue our series of conversation about how to improve literacy rates among children. Our guests explore how programs like the Imagination Library are helping our community’s youngest readers. Our guests:
- Matt Present, M.D., founder of the Rochester chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center
- Carol St. George, Ed.D., professor and director of the literacy teacher education program at the Warner School of Education
- Laquanda M. Fields, director of community engagement for the Rochester chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and librarian at Dr. Charles T. Lunsford School #19 in the Rochester City School District
- LaToya Stevenson, ambassador for the Rochester chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and parent whose daughter is enrolled in the program
