Milestone in reading: United Way effort gives books to 1,000 KC area preschoolers

Books and reading are wonderful and essential gifts. Because of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, more than 1,000 Kansas City area children have received these priceless presents.

The Women’s Leadership Council of the United Way of Greater Kansas City brought the program here in 2013, providing books to children up to age 5. The local program hit a milestone of having more than 1,000 preschoolers, who receive the high quality, age-appropriate books mailed free to their homes each month. The goal is to enroll 5,000 young readers by 2020.

The books are going to children in the Kansas City, Hickman Mills, Shawnee Mission, Independence, Center, Belton and North Kansas City school districts. This year, the United Way expects to expand into the Olathe School District.

Country music star Dolly Parton started the program in 1995. The Kansas City area is among 1,600 communities putting books in the hands of more than 750,000 children each month in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Kansas City area effort is in addition to Mayor Sly James’ Turn the Page initiative, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Urban Neighborhood Initiative and the Local Investment Commission gearing up to provide more than 30,000 books this summer to elementary school students in six area school districts and two charter schools.

Books and reading strengthen parent-child bonds and improve kids’ language skills. Good reading habits prepare preschoolers for kindergarten and sharpen the language skills of older kids for each new grade level.

Investing in children now at these young ages helps ensure this community will have a better educated citizenry in the future.

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 10:19 AM with the headline "Milestone in reading: United Way effort gives books to 1,000 KC area preschoolers."