COLUMBUS, Ohio — Parents, Guardians and Caregivers can register children, ages birth to five, to receive a free book every month through a partnership with Easterseals, The Dolly Parton
Imagination Library and the Ohio Governor’s Office.
Leaders from Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio met with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine about efforts to expand the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library (OGIL) Program, statewide. Leaders from Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio, an affiliate of the OGIL Program sponsoring Hocking, Gallia, Jackson, Pike, Scioto, Vinton and Meigs counties took part in a statewide OGIL Program workshop to learn more about this program.
The OGIL Program, funded by the Ohio legislature for two years, helps promote early childhood literacy in children from the time they are born until they turn 5 years old, by providing a new book to that child every month. The books are free to the child, with the state providing a dollar for dollar match with Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio.
“Brain science shows the first years of a child’s life are the most important,” said Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine. “Mike and I are passionate about bringing the OGIL Program to every Ohio child who is eligible in every county and every zip code. We know it’ll make a difference, because it’s something we’ve seen for years firsthand reading to our kids and grandkids.”
The OGIL Program, Easterseals Central and Southeast Ohio and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is partnering to deliver the program in Ohio. Currently, the OGIL Program is active in 54 Ohio
counties. The goal is to expand the program so all eligible children in Ohio can enroll in 2020.
