Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee
This is a worth while program I think it deserves a spotlight.
In 2004, Governor Phil Bredesen established a non-profit Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation as a resource to Tennesseans establishing and maintaining county Imagination Libraries. Over the years, the program has grown by leaps and bounds.
Tennessee’s statewide Imagination Library provides new, age-appropriate, hardcover books to children that are registered in the program. Children receive these books at no cost to the family regardless of income. More than 7.7 million Imagination Library books have been delivered to Tennessee children since October 2004.
Today, nearly 210,000 Tennessee children throughout 95 counties will receive a free book in the mail.
All of Tennessee’s 370,000 children under age 5 has access to the Imagination Library.
More than 101,763 5-year olds have “graduated” from the program. This means that the statewide program has served over 308,627 since the beginning in 2004.
The Imagination Library
The cost of providing books to children for an entire year is $28 dollars per child. The cost is split evenly between a non-profit sponsoring organization in each county and the Governor’s Book from Birth Foundation.
A committee of childhood education experts selects the books for the Imagination Library. These include classics such as, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Little Engine That Could, The Snowy Day and famous others.
Up to 10 bilingual books are featured throughout the birth-to-age-five program. These feature Spanish and English text on the same page.
In many hospitals, nurses register the babies the very day they are born. Pediatricians and family physicians give parents a prescription to read.
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Wow, thanks so much for the shout-out, Shaundra!
ReplyDeleteIn fairness, your post mostly refers to our organization (GBBF) that administers the statewide Imagination Library in Tennessee: www.GovernorsFoundation.org.
The cost of purchasing & delivering books is $28 per child, per year. In Tennessee, this cost is split evenly between a county’s non-profit sponsoring organization, and the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation. Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee serves as the non-profit sponsoring organization for Davidson (Metro Nashville), Williamson, and Sumner counties, and is charged with raising approximately $14 per child, per year for (currently) a grand total of 31,978 children under age five. Information on their grassroots program (as administered by Vanderbilt Children's Hospital) can be found here:
http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=2048
Thanks so much for your support and interest, and Happy Reading!