(Shreveport, LA) – United Way of Northwest Louisiana (UWNWLA) exceeded its end-of-year $50,000 fundraising goal and raised $70,000 to support its educational program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Funds raised to support the program will sponsor 2,000 children living in Northwest Louisiana for the following year.
On November 7, 2023, UWNWLA launched its end-of-year giving campaign centered around the Imagination Library for the second consecutive year. With the support of patrons, UWNWLA mails a free, age-appropriate book each month to children from birth to age five through this program, giving children the social and developmental tools needed to be successful in school and later in life. Approximately 43 donors gave to join the United Way Book Club in support of the Imagination Library. UWNWLA was also awarded a $25,000 grant from AEP SWEPCO and a $7,700 grant from the City of Natchitoches to increase the program’s impact.
Studies show that 27% of Louisiana adults are illiterate, which is 959,109 individuals out of Louisiana’s population. Moreover, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy reports that two-thirds of children beginning the fifth grade who cannot already read proficiently will be dependent upon government assistance or wind up in prison when they become adults. In an effort to make a long-term and economic difference for Northwest Louisiana, UWNWLA is no longer only targeting children’s homes through the Imagination Library, allowing donors’ impact to stretch further.
Donors who gave to join the Book Club are enabling the organization to provide a set of Imagination Library books to underserved Pre-K classrooms, ensuring literacy and language development occurs in and out of school. In addition, it’s allowing UWNWLA to host parent workshops, where the organization will teach parents the proper techniques to read with their child and provide them with helpful resource materials. Lastly, donations are helping the organization remain connected with parents of children enrolled in the program until they reach kindergarten by providing monthly activities corresponding with the book they will receive that month.
“We are overwhelmed by the generous support of our community this holiday season, especially since we know it’s an expensive time of year,” said LaToria W. Thomas, UWNWLA President & CEO. “We are more than grateful that our supporters share our vision of going beyond placing books in homes and helping us to take the extra steps to ensure language and literacy development is occurring through a required interactive experience. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for giving the gift of reading so more of our children have the opportunity to reach brighter futures.”
While the organization has had a successful campaign, UWNWLA will need to reach a larger goal of $600,000 to enroll all 33,000 children who could benefit from the Imagination Library in the organization’s ten-parish region. Thanks to an anonymous donor, a $5,000 match has been pledged if our community can raise $5,000 to support the program. International Paper has also agreed to a $5,000 match through a partnership with Champions for Literacy, potentially giving UWNWLA $10,000 total and allowing 285 more students to enroll in the program.
To learn more and give today, please visit https://unitedwaynwla.org/
To enroll your child in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, please visit https://unitedwaynwla.org/our-