We’re imagineOne

ABOUT US

How Our Passion Was Kindled

It started with a quad-shot of espresso early one morning at Neutral Groundz Coffeehouse and a conversation between a father-daughter duo who couldn’t ignore what they had just learned: 48% of local high school graduates could not read proficiently.

That number lit a fire.

Both longtime champions of children and literacy, the two asked a simple but powerful question: What if every family had access to the right tools before their child even started school? What if they all had something as simple and effective as My First Steps to Reading?

At that moment, imagineOne was born.

Built on the belief that parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, imagineOne exists to ensure that every family has what they need to lay the foundation for lifelong learning, starting in the earliest years.

We know that when families are supported, children thrive. And when communities invest in early literacy, everyone wins.

50%

Nearly half of America's third graders can't read proficiently

WHAT WE KNOW…

90%

Of brain development happens by age 5—before most literacy support begins

4x

Children who can't read by 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out

THE SOLUTION

How imagineOne Overcomes the Crisis

We help families build early reading skills during the years when a child’s brain is growing the fastest. This strong start helps prevent future reading struggles and prepares children to be reading ready by kindergarten.

Every family gets our full 26-book toolkit and becomes part of a community that cares about reading. Parents feel confident and ready to help their children learn and love language from the very beginning.

WHAT MAKES OUR

Approach Unprecedented

  • While every other literacy organization waits for children to fail, we prevent failure before it starts by building reading foundations with families during the critical 0-5 years.

  • We don't just serve families—we transform entire communities into literacy ecosystems where parents, educators, medical professionals, and leaders unite as co-champions.

  • We've cracked the code on translating complex reading science into joyful, accessible tools that build reading-readiness and can be used confidently by any parent at home.

FROM IDEA TO REVOLUTION

How the Movement Grows

  • Step 1: Community Partnership

    Local leaders recognize the literacy crisis and team up with imagineOne to launch the Reading Ready Revolution. Together, we reach families, build support, and start creating lasting change.

  • Step 2: Family Empowerment

    Families receive tools, training, and encouragement. Parents grow confident in their role as their child’s first teacher and kids start building strong reading foundations at home.

  • Step 3: Support Spreads

    Trusted messengers such as teachers, doctors, and community partners join the effort. Resources are shared where families already live, learn, and play.

  • Step 4: Lasting Impact

    The results grow with every child, family, and community involved. What starts small becomes a ripple of real change—moving us closer to ending illiteracy before it begins.

Your Role in the Revolution

This isn't a spectator sport. The literacy revolution needs champions, advocates, and believers who understand that real change happens when passionate people decide to be part of the solution. Choose how you'll help transform literacy in America.

  • Access our complete resource library, join our community of literacy champions, and transform your family’s future through singing, playing, talking, and connecting every day.

  • Bring the revolution to your area.

    Partner with us to launch ImagineOne in your community, unite local leaders around literacy, and create lasting change where you live.

  • Amplify the revolution.

    Share our mission with your networks, attend workshops and events, and help spread the literacy revolution across America.

  • Fund the transformation.

    Support families who need resources, sponsor community implementations, and invest in sustainable literacy change nationwide.

United by Purpose, Driven by Impact

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kristin Cain
Co-Founder and President

Cindy Amoroso
Vice President

George Peterson
Co-Founder and Treasurer

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Rod Meyer
Pam DeMarce
Dr. Don Putzier
Christy Eichers
Bob Kitchenmaster

OUR PARTNERS

United for Literacy

At imagineOne, we know we can’t do this work alone. Partnerships with schools, clinics, public libraries, and civic organizations are key to building Reading Ready communities.

  • Greater Mankato Rotary

    Raises funds, increases awareness of the illiteracy crisis, and distributes My First Steps to Reading® to preschools in the Greater Mankato Area.

  • Desert Sands Unified School District

    Provides My First Steps to Reading to every family with an early learner enrolled in district TK program.

  • Mankato Clinic

    Clinicians attend an annual Lunch & Learn on early brain development and provide parents with literacy resources at wellness visits.

  • Bethany Literacy Clinic

    imagineOne proudly supports the Bethany Literacy Clinic, ensuring every child, no matter their starting point, has access to the individualized instruction they need to become successful readers.

  • Mankato Area Public Schools

    In partnership with imagineOne and Greater Mankato Rotary, Mankato Area Public Schools uses My First Steps to Reading in every preschool classroom and gives a complete 26-volume set to every family. Parent engagement events are developed around the renown Parent’s Guide to My First Steps to Reading - providing opportunities for early literacy moments at home, before children reach kindergarten.

  • Head Start – Butler County, Pennsylvania

    Families and educators are working together to build early literacy skills before school ever begins. At Early Learning Connections Head Start, teachers like Arlene Roth have used the MFSTR toolkit for over 20 years—and they’re seeing measurable results.

  • Blue Earthy County Public Library System

    Providing families with access to books, early learning activities, and reading readiness resources in a welcoming environment. The library system helps extend imagineOne’s tools and messages into the daily lives of local families.

UNITED FOR LITERACY

Our Strategic Alliances

We build strong partnerships that lift families, support children, and bring communities together. When we all work as one, real change takes root and it lasts.

One Child. One Family. One community at a time.

UNITED FOR LITERACY

Our Strategic Alliances

We build strong partnerships that lift families, support children, and bring communities together. When we all work as one, real change takes root and it lasts.

One Child. One Family. One community at a time.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

We believe change starts close to home.

That’s why we partner with Rotary clubs and local civic groups who care deeply about their communities. Together, we spread the Reading Ready Revolution—bringing trusted voices, strong leadership, and lasting support to the families who need it most. 

Because literacy is about giving every child, and every community, the chance to thrive.

HEALTHCARE PARTNERS

Our healthcare partners know that healthy brains need early learning.

These partnerships recognize that literacy is a public health issue, integrating reading readiness into routine well-child visits and connecting families to our resources during critical developmental windows. When healthcare providers become literacy advocates, every family interaction becomes an opportunity for transformation.

EDUCATION COLLABORATIVES

We work alongside schools, colleges, and early learning centers to give every child a strong start.

From our collaboration with Bethany Lutheran College to local preschool programs, these partnerships help bridge the gap between home and school so children arrive ready to learn.

When families and educators work together, reading success starts early and lasts a lifetime.

The Revolution Needs You

At imagineOne, we believe in the power of one:

One family laying the foundation. One child ready to read. One community committed to literacy for all.

Because reading changes everything… and it all starts with one.

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