Tamworth families who read together, are enjoying more time together

Doing his bit to help make this a reality, Mr McGrath visited Tamworth on Friday, March 15, to announce United Way Australia (UWA) and its Dolly Parton's Imagination Library as his 2024 Law Society of NSW President's Charity.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has been operating in Australia for more than a decade, and since 2019 specifically in Tamworth. This means every child born in the Tamworth Local Government Area is signed up to what is a global initiative to encourage a love of reading.

In participating communities, the Imagination Library delivers a carefully selected physical book for a child to keep, every month from birth until they turn five.

Mr McGrath said there was no more appropriate place than Australia's country music capital to launch his President's Charity support for the program, which was established by the world's Queen of Country Music nearly 30 years ago.

The announcement was made in conjunction with UWA at Tamworth City Library and foreshadowed new research to be published in the prestigious Journal of Research in Childhood Education.

"I'm thrilled this latest research from UWA will reinforce what participant parents and kids in the program already know: the Imagination Library is paving the way towards a brighter future for the next generation," Mr McGrath said.

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said the Imagination Library was one of the most important initiatives council supported in our community.

"Since launching in Tamworth in 2019, we have seen the literacy skills of our children improve," he said.

"I can't thank [enough] the individuals and organisations who donate to this program to ensure its longevity enough for their ongoing support.

"This has enabled more than 3500 children to be registered to receive books across the region.

"Literacy is something the nation is struggling with across the nation at the moment. We hear so often how the education system is really struggling to get children to read and write properly at school.

"This program is helping our children achieve a higher level of literacy than it would have been in the past, and Tamworth Regional Council is 100 per cent behind it."

UWA head of network development for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Leo Krikmann said UWA's statistics showed the benefits of the program went well beyond the children who take part.

"The Imagination Library is forging strong connections between children and carers, families and other children as they grow," he said.

"Whole communities have been connected by the program."

Mr Krikmann said the research showed in Tamworth after 6 months of participation 65 per cent of caregivers read for more than 10 minutes a day, which was nearly double the typical Australian rate of 33pc.

In reading attitudes and interactions, 85pc of caregivers felt more connected to their children and reported increased quality family time.

At three years of age, he said a greater percentage of children in Tamworth exhibited improved emerging language and literacy skills, including print concepts, expressive vocabulary and phonological memory when read to daily, compared to those who read less frequently.

"This reinforces other academic literature and government reports that regular reading with a child can have a significant effect on their life trajectory," he said.

"The research findings will be a clarion call to policy makers who work to achieve better outcomes for children.

"With sufficient backing as well as local support from communities, what's happened in Tamworth can be repeated in every community in Australia," he said.

As a result of the program's results in Tamworth, a further 28 LGAs in NSW have also adopted the Imagination Library program.

Statistics show the program is making a difference, and Mr Krikmann is grateful for the support of the NSW Law Society.

"What we see as the connection the program has with the NSW Law Society is that low literacy skills have been linked to poor educational outcomes, and poor education outcomes can lead to poor employment outcomes, which in turn leads to poor socioeconomic outcomes for children," Mr Krickmann said.

"What happens when there are poor socioeconomic outcomes for children, we see the figures for youth crime and misdemeanours rise in the community.

"We believe we have a way to help prevent that from happening in future generations by preventing that from happening by giving children a great start in literacy from the very beginning."

Mr Krikmann's description of the impact low literacy skills can have go someway to explain the rising rate of youth crime which is plaguing not only Tamworth but local government areas across regional NSW, and comes just days after the NSW Government announced a $26.2 million package of reforms and initiatives to support community safety and wellbeing.

Mr McGrath said the Imagination Library offered long term investment in communities that would help to keep kids off the street, and move them into a love of learning which will also help to keep families together.

He said the research results in Tamworth showed the program was having a "positive, tangible impact" for young people's lives from a young age, "giving them an opportunity they may not have been able to afford otherwise".

"Investment by the government and at a community level through programs like the Imagination Library is going to be critical in the long-term health and wellbeing of young people in rural and regional areas," Mr McGrath said.

"While we welcome the NSW Government's announcement of wrap around services in Moree, we know the stats show youth crime is worse in regional areas than metro.

"The initiatives announced for Moree should be rolled out across NSW.

"Locking children up is not the answer, we need to be investing long-term in programs like this one.

"Having children learn, develop a love of literacy and be able to attain employment is a long-term strategy, but the proposed initiatives for Moree is a good start."