The State of Illinois, Dollywood Foundation Executive Director Nora Briggs, United Way of McLean County President and CEO David Taylor, local officials, parents, and community members joined together at the Bloomington Public Library for the statewide launch of Illinois’ partnership with The Dollywood Foundation to provide Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This book gifting program mails free, high-quality, and age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five, regardless of the family’s income. Governor Pritzker’s FY24 budget allocates $1.6 million to the program to support early childhood learning in Illinois and instill lifelong reading practice. “I am so excited to announce that Illinois is expanding my Imagination Library statewide,” said Dolly Parton. “Thank you to Governor JB Pritzker and all our local program partners across Illinois who worked so hard to make this dream a reality.” The Imagination Library Program is supported by The Dollywood Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Dolly Parton in 1988. Since launching in 1995, the Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book-gifting program in the world, with the mission of inspiring a love of reading in children from birth to age five. The program is currently active in areas across forty counties in Illinois with over 30,000 children currently receiving books and with this expansion, is expected to fully cover the entire state. To learn more about becoming a local program partner, contact Pam Hunsaker at Phunsaker@imaginationlibrary.com. To check to see if a program is available in your area, visit the ‘find my program’ page on www.imaginationlibrary.com.