Success By 6®

Success By 6® (SB6) is United Way’s initiative to ensure that more children come to school ready to learn. The years between birth and six are a time of tremendous growth and development. The experiences children have in their earliest years determine the actual structure of their brain and lay the foundation for their ability to learn, as well as their emotional and behavioral well-being. The stakes are high – these early years matter, not only for young children and their families, but also for our entire community. Investments in early childhood have a high rate of return: for every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood programs, we save $16 in costs such as special education, incarceration, and welfare.

Desired Result

For children to enter school developmentally on track in terms of health, literacy, social, emotional and intellectual skills regardless of race or socioeconomic status

Strategies

1. Create opportunities for children (0-5) from low-income families to have access to early care and education.

2. Improve the quality of early care and education.

3. Increase parents' knowledge of the important developmental milestones their children must meet to come to school success-ready.

Highlights of Our Work

Grantmaking.  United Way provides grants to local organizations that provide high-quality services that meet community needs.  To meet the needs of young children and their families, UWGNH invests in parent education programs, efforts to improve the quality of early care and education that is available in our region, and subsidizes high-quality care for low-income families.  Learn more. . .

The Accreditation Initiative helps early care and education programs in New Haven, Hamden, East Haven, and West Haven maintain their accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  Accreditation is a nationally accepted measure of quality.  In its first year, the Accreditation Initiative project worked with 13 centers in New Haven, East Haven, and West Haven; to date, seven of the 13 centers have been successful, with the others still waiting to hear about their results.  The project is currently in its second year. 

UWGNH provides Born Learning materials to local organizations throughout the region that work with families with young children.  These materials provide concrete ideas for how parents can support their child’s learning and healthy growth, including mealtime tips, learning games, and what to expect from a child at each age.   We also organized volunteers from the Regional Water Authority and Comcast to install the first two Born Learning Trails in Connecticut.   More . . .

The United Ways of Greater New Haven, Coastal Fairfield County and Western Connecticut partnered with the Diaper Bank and collected 300,000 diapers for lower income families in our 33-town region during the 2009 Healthy Baby Diaper Drive.  Healthy Baby Diaper Drive co-chairs – Janice Gruendel, Consultant for the State of CT Board of Education, and Irene Cornish, Superintendent of Schools in Stratford – convened a forum of elected officials and business, municipal and service provider leaders to highlight the need in our local communities and champion a call to action to support struggling children and families. You can learn how to ensure babies in our communities grow and thrive by running your own diaper drive!

UWGNH's Vice President for Community Leadership provides leadership at the local and state level on early childhood issues, serving as Co-Chair of the New Haven Early Childhood Council and Co-Chair of the Task Force that developed the 2009 New Haven Early Childhood Plan and as a member of the Standing Committee on State and Community Partnerships under the auspices of the CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet.