City looks to music icon’s program for kids’ books

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration plans to get free books into the hands of kids by becoming an affiliate of country music superstar Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program.

City council will introduce legislation Tuesday to accept $250,000 in funding from the Benter Foundation to implement a pilot program that would enroll children from birth to age 5 to receive free, age-appropriate books on a monthly basis.

“Research shows that early literacy experiences including access to books in the home are fundamental ingredients for future academic success,” Tiffini Simoneaux, early childhood manager at the city’s Bureau of Neighborhood Empowerment, said in a city news release. “This program will enable young children throughout the city to build a home library of up to 60 books.”

Funds from the Benter Foundation — a foundation founded in 2007 with a focus on transportation, arts, global connections and community engagement — would be used to cover promotion of the program as well as a portion of the ongoing monthly mailing costs.

According to the city’s release, annual mailing costs per child are estimated at $25.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library would handle book selections, databases, monthly mailings and other overhead costs.

According to the Imagination Library figures, just over 115 million books have been mailed to children in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia since the program’s inception in 1995.