United Way Success By 6 is the nation’s largest network of early childhood coalitions focused on improving school readiness through community change. Since 1995, United Way of Central Florida’s Success By 6 has focused on early literacy to help children enter school ready to learn.
Why Do We Need Success By 6?
- 30% of children in Florida live in single parent households.
- 42% of Florida's children are in low-income families.
- 19% live in high poverty neighborhoods.
- Children who start behind, usually stay behind.
- A critical path is laid in the first few years of life. Meet Erick and Tommy.
Why Should I Care?
If we don’t take action now we will continue to create a permanent segment of society who cannot participate fully in community life.
We will all face: 
- Higher taxes to support programs for people who are dependent
- An increase in crime, less personal safety
- A decline in America’s ability to compete in the world’s economy
If children don’t develop properly when they are young, they are more likely to drop out of school, go to jail, become a teen parent and/or require government assistance.
Who is Success By 6?
Success By 6 is people in business, government, labor, education, and health and human services agencies working together to make sure kids get what they need to succeed. The common goal is to create a community where all children have the mental, physical, social and emotional foundation to grow into healthy, productive members of the community.
United Way of Central Florida Success By 6 Initiatives
Parent Resource Guide
The United Way of Central Florida’s Success By 6 produces the Parent Resource Guide in March, July and November, reaching an average of 90,000 homes with each 12-16 page edition as an insert in the Sunday edition of The Ledger. The Resource Guide provides a comprehensive list of services in the area and contains informative, timely articles to assist parents and families in linking with services and community agencies. An additional 7,500 copies are also distributed to parents by partners in our community. If you would like to advertise in the Parent Resource Guide or to partner in distribution call Success By 6 at 863-648-1500 or click here.
VIEW THE LATEST EDITION
Spirit of the Family
The Spirit of the Family Award honors businesses that provide family friendly policies and workplaces. Winners of this award have demonstrated they are committed to providing policies and benefits that improve the quality of life by helping employees to balance work and family commitments. This investment in our children promotes greater economic growth and a stronger workforce. In conjunction with Polk Works Workforce 2020 to honor the Best Places to Work, the 2008 Success Rally Awards Breakfast was held Thursday, February 7, 2008. The Spirit of the Family awards recognized a top winner in 4 size categories and several finalists who excelled in their family friendly practices. The winners were: Small Company - Lanier Upshaw, Inc.; Medium Company - Polk County Clerk of Courts; Large Company – Polk County Sheriff’s Office; Mega Company – State Farm Insurance. Finalists recognized were: Bright House Networks; Florida Engineering and Design, Inc.; Healthy Start Coalition of Hardee, Highlands, and Polk Counties, Inc.; Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center; Keith and Schnars, PA; Lakeland Regional Medical Center; Lockheed Martin Financial Services; Marriott Vacation Club International; Polk County Board of County Commissioners; Technology Research Consultants, Inc.; The NCT Group CPA’s, LLP; WS Badcock Corporation; Winter Haven Hospital. Congratulations!
Everyday life is a learning experience for children! Born Learning is a public engagement campaign that helps parents, grandparents and caregivers explore ways to turn everyday moments into fun learning opportunities. Through national public service advertising, parent materials and community mobilization activities, Born Learning provides action steps that are fun, easy – and can be taken in everyday moments – to prepare young children for school. Born Learning information has been placed in newsletters, websites, in the Lakeland Magazine, at the movies, on billboards, and in The Ledger. A Central Florida Kick-off for Born Learning was held in 2005. Three years later, we have seen over 1 million pieces of Born Learning material being shared with parents! Please visit bornlearning.org.
Family Fundamentals is a collaboration of organizations committed to strengthening families and our community by increasing access to resources and services. This Success By 6 parent resource center is a warm, welcoming place where parents and other family members come to access information, support services, and the tools they need to be the best parents they can be. Fifty-one agencies offer services on site to provide a one-stop opportunity for parents. Parents come for one service or class and return for others. The center is located at 1021 Lakeland Hills Blvd. in Lakeland, above the Lakeland Volunteers in Medicine. Family Fundamentals offers many ideas and activities to promote brain development and family relationships children need to enter school ready to succeed. Free recurring activities for parents and children include groups that encourage appropriate parent/child interaction, School Readiness Activities in the daily GAP classes, and Creative Movement. Some of the current classes are childbirth preparation, computer classes, support groups and parenting classes. Family Fundamentals also has a resource room, computer lab, learning kitchen, model classroom, playroom, and adult classrooms/meeting rooms. Partners provide evaluations, counseling, casework, and many other services. 2008 sees Family Fundamentals in its 7th year and on track to receive over 29,000 visitors this year.
Family Fundamentals’ premier event, the annual Back to School Blast was held July 26th at the Lakeland Center. 3,888 family members attended this free event, with 1,781 children grades PreK–5th receiving a backpack and school supplies. 126 event staff volunteers assisted at the event and 298 vendor/provider volunteers from 60 organizations facilitated activities and distributed parent information. Medical personnel provided immunizations to 40 children and performed 1187 health screenings. Dental, body mass index, vision, hearing, lead and speech screenings were also completed. Parents signed themselves up and their children for additional services including KidCare insurance, tutoring and library cards.
School Readiness Neighborhood Initiative
This 3-component initiative targets neighborhoods where children that are considered at-risk for school failure reside. Master Teachers provide an internship for childcare instructors at childcare centers. Parent education classes also assist the instructors and the parents in helping prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Each center also receives a parent lending library to encourage parents to read with their young children.
Master Teachers
Four Master Teachers provide intense on-the-job training for para-professionals in 40 pre-kindergarten classrooms every year. The Master Teacher and teacher-in-training work side by side for 160 hours at each site to model and practice skills consistent with accreditation standards. With an average of 18 students in the pre-kindergarten classes alone, this program affects approximately 720 pre-kindergarten students each year. Pre and post testing shows substantial improvement among all sites. Follow-up testing has demonstrated that these teachers will continue to provide higher quality care for years to come.
Parent Education Series
In 2008, four parent education series were completed at childcare sites in collaboration with our partners. Five more will be scheduled for 2009. A light supper and childcare are provided at this unique 6-night program to allow parents to relax and enjoy the classes. An average of 10% improvement in parental awareness has been shown on the post-test versus the pre-tests.
Parent Lending Libraries
Through the generosity of grants and sponsorships, libraries are being placed at childcare centers to allow parents to conveniently borrow books to read with their child every day. This encourages the early literacy skills that prepare children to enter school ready to succeed. The first Parent Lending Library was placed in 2004. There are now 115 Parent Lending Libraries in Polk and Hardee counties, with a goal of placing at least 100 more by 2010. At the current utilization rate, the Parent Lending Libraries are on track to loan over 27,000 books this year!
No child should be uninsured! KidCare is the Florida's children’s health insurance program for uninsured children under age 19. It includes four programs: MediKids, Healthy Kids, Children’s Medical Services and Medicaid. Florida KidCare will check to see which program a child may be eligible for based on age and family income. Parents can go to floridakidcare.com to apply online or to print an application. They should call 1-888-540-5437 to update their information.
To find out more about Success By 6 or how you can help, call Jodi Tucker at 863.648.1500 ext. 265.
