Clayton County Early Literacy Endowment

The Clayton County Early Literacy Endowment was created to provide a sustainable source of funding for the Clayton County Imagination Library, an affiliate of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Your gift to the endowment helps get books in the hands of our youngest readers at no expense to families. 

•The Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family's income. 

•Inspired by an anonymous donor, the Clayton County Foundation for the Future Board brought this initiative to Clayton County to promote early literacy in our communities. 

•There are currently more than 500 children enrolled in the program and receiving books each month to build their own home libraries. Since our local program started in 2022, we have gifted more than 19,000 books to Clayton County children.

Reading at grade level is a key predictor of school success and high school graduation. This program helps get Clayton County children off to a bright start regardless of socio-economic status, with an early love of reading. Access to books and a positive environment around reading contribute to lifelong benefits that will positively impact Clayton County children's family relationships, academic, career, and personal achievements and growth. 

•Estimates show that a typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on one picture book reading, compared with an average of just 25 hours for a child from a low-income family. 46% of students in Clayton County school districts are considered low socio-economic status by the Iowa Department of Education based on their eligibility to receive free and reduced price lunch, showing the need for support in this area for all children. 

•Literacy is important to success in education as children grow from learning to read to reading to learn. Impact is seen in research showing that third grade reading levels are linked to graduation and college enrollment rates. Research shows that investment in early childhood experiences and education are worthwhile for children's futures, impacting brain development, subsequent learning, health, and financial earnings as an adult.