08/26/2026
Besides being an award winning musician, Dolly Parton founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1988, originally to improve educational outcomes among children in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee.
Among the foundation's early efforts was the Buddy Program, in which seventh- and eighth-grade students paired with a friend and pledged to support each other in remaining in school and graduating from high school. Students who graduated received $500. The dropout rate among participating classes fell from 35% to 6%, and the program encouraged the community to develop additional initiatives to sustain the improvement.
The Imagination Library literacy program may be the most impactful Dollywood Foundation endeavor, begun in 1995 in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write. Each enrolled child receives one book per month mailed to them from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. In 2018 Dolly was recognized for her foundationās work in providing one hundred million books to children.
Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton joined Librarian of Congress Carla H...
