March 17, 2006 - Families with young children in Marshall County will now have access to books in the most convenient way: delivered free right to their homes. The program is being made available through the Marshall County Early Childhood Initiative, a project supported by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.

Every child, from birth through age five, in Marshall County will have the opportunity to receive a monthly book by mail from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. The Dolly Parton Foundation supplies books at low cost and mails them to families who register their young children. The Early Childhood Initiative will provide part of the funding and local contributions will add the balance of the cost.

This project is one of the proposals currently being implemented to improve the educational opportunities for children in Marshall County. Other projects being discussed are summer programming that will connect school-based early childhood programs and family child care. Another project will assist working, out of town parents with transportation for their children to local child cares home, so that they may attend School Readiness and Head Start preschool programs. New action projects will be announced as they are developed.

The Early Childhood Initiative was established in June of 2004 along with 50 other coalitions across the state of Minnesota. All five communities in the Marshall County Coalition are represented and meet monthly to develop action plans and implement projects that help to make Marshall County the best place for young children to thrive and have a healthy life of learning, achieving and succeeding. The future of our communities depends on it. Everyone benefits when our youngest citizens get the best start in life.

The Coalition continues to meet monthly and welcomes ideas, suggestions and donations. Funds from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation will be combined with local resources to achieve results to be able to support projects such as the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. If you would like to make a donation to benefit our youngest citizens, or would like more information, call please call Sheree Setterholm, Marshall County Coordinator, at 218 437- 6616.

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation invests resources, creates opportunities and promotes philanthropy to make the region a better place to live and work.