Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Oregon Announces New State Director and Community Engagement Coordinator

The Dollywood Foundation has announced the team that will lead the statewide Imagination Library’s efforts in Oregon. State Director Laurie McNichols and Community Engagement Coordinator, Kaylee Chrystal, stepped into their roles with the Imagination Library in August. Imagination Library work is working with Oregon in partnership with the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC) to expand the program statewide.

“This is an exciting milestone for Oregon,” said DELC Director Alyssa Chatterjee. “These positions will play critical roles in working with DELC to expand the program and bring books to mailboxes, homes and hearts across the state so that young children can build early literacy skills and a love of reading.”

McNichols, previously an area director with Oregon literacy nonprofit SMART Reading, brings 14 years of experience working to promote early literacy through raising awareness, building relationships and securing funding to support the work. With the Imagination Library of Oregon, McNichols will oversee the implementation of the statewide program, staffing and budget; she will also work to develop strategies for supporting and sustaining efforts across the state.

“Having the opportunity to collaborate with the Department of Early Learning and Care, and alongside partners and communities statewide, is a dream come true,” McNichols said. “I am committed to ensuring that Oregon’s youngest readers can receive high quality, age-appropriate books, at no cost to families, through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.”

Chrystal also brings a strong background in nonprofit and early literacy work through her previous role as a state operations coordinator with Stand for Children, an organization whose mission is to advocate for quality education for all children. In her new role, Chrystal will develop and maintain strong relationships with existing and new partners, volunteers and supporters statewide.

“This opportunity allows me to fulfill many of my passions - early literacy, philanthropy, and building community partnerships in the best possible way, with books,” Chrystal said.

“I’m thrilled to spend this next chapter carrying out Dolly’s mission of inspiring a love of reading to our youngest readers and their families.” 

In May of this year, Gov. Tina Kotek announced the launch of the Imagination Library of Oregon's statewide book-gifting program by covering 50% of the cost to give books to Oregon’s youngest learners statewide. “This is not only about giving out books," Kotek said, “it's also about sparking moments of joy and building early, positive connections with reading for young learners and their families. The success of this program is a wonderful complement to all we are doing to support our kids as they learn to read.” 

The Chief Sponsor of the bill that made the state match possible, Majority Leader Ben Bowman, shared that, “In 2023, a bipartisan coalition of legislators supported a statewide expansion of DPIL because we agree on a simple premise: every child in Oregon should grow up surrounded by books. With Dolly’s signature sparkle, we’re bringing excitement to children’s learning at a time that it’s needed the most. Because of this program, many thousands more kids in every corner of this state will learn to love reading — no matter how much money their parents make.”

Local Program Partners across the state coordinate and manage enrollments, as well as  raise funds to cover the remaining costs of books and postage for each monthly mailing. The goal of the expansion is to make books available to children from birth through their 5th birthday, in every zip code in Oregon.  At this time families in 32 of Oregon’s 36 counties can register their children to receive books. The program is currently serving over 58,000 children. The program will soon be available to children in all counties in Oregon, at no cost to families.