Campaign kicks off to provide pathway to learning and literacy for area children from birth to 5

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The Northern Virginia Imagination Library is kicking off its fundraising campaign this month benefiting the area’s youngest learners. 

“We’re thrilled to be the newest local program partner for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and excited to get the community involved in helping our children develop a love of lifelong learning,” said Andrew McCarthy-Clark, the Northern Virginia (NOVA) Imagination Library president. “We are ready to engage with community partners to build this program, beginning with the City of Alexandria.. Our hope is that the Imagination Library will begin registering and sending thousands of local children a free high-quality, age-appropriate book each month by next summer.” 

The NOVA Imagination Library’s initial goal is to raise enough funds to launch the program in the City of Alexandria by summer 2026, and then expand the program into other areas in Northern Virginia. Every child from birth to age 5 who registers in the program receives one age-appropriate book each month – at no cost to families. A donation of $20 will fund one child for an entire year. 

The program welcomes community partnerships to assist in the pathway to learning and literacy for our most vulnerable populations of early childhood learners in Northern Virginia.

“It’s an exciting time for us!” said Amy Jackson, former City of Alexandria Vice Mayor and NOVA Imagination Library board member. “As a mom and as an educator, I know how important it is to engage with our children early and instill the love of reading in them. 

Education begins in early childhood and it is where we see the greatest need to focus on learning in order to narrow our children’s achievement gaps that we see develop and widen in their later school years. The NOVA Imagination Library understands that focus and the immeasurable value reading brings to our early childhood learners. I am proud to be a part of its inception and to have the City of Alexandria be a hub for this essential programming for our youth.”

People and organizations wishing to donate may do so online at our program’s website https://www.novaimaginationlibrary.com/give. 

Connect with the Northern Virginia Imagination Library on Facebook (NOVAimaginationlibrary), Instagram (NOVAimagainationlib) and LinkedIn (NOVAImaginationLibrary) and at our website NOVAimaginationlibrary.com

About Northern Virginia Imagination Library

The Northern Virginia (NOVA) Imagination Library Foundation is an IRS 501c(3) tax-exempt organization and donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

The Northern Virginia Imagination Library is a local program partner of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This premier program mails free high-quality, age-appropriate books to registered children every month from birth to age 5. Children enrolled from birth receive 60 books by the time they graduate from the Imagination Library program. The Dollywood Foundation covers overhead costs and negotiates wholesale pricing for the books, while local community partners fundraise to cover the cost of mailing and decided-upon wholesale book prices.  

About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book-gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has gifted over 280 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and The Republic of Ireland. This is achieved through funding shared by The Dollywood Foundation and Local Community Partners.  The Imagination Library mails more than 3 million high-quality, age-appropriate books directly to children’s homes each month. Each child enrolled in the program receives one book per month from birth to age five - at no cost to families.  Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading and inspiring children to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More™.

The program’s impact has been widely researched, and results demonstrate its positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.

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