Success By 6 is dedicated to the following goal: To create a community where all children, by the age of 6, have the mental, physical, social, and emotional foundation needed to grow into healthy, productive members of the community.

Success By 6 is a community-wide children’s initiative, founded in 1995 by Carol Jenkins Barnett of Publix Super Market Charities and spearheaded by United Way of Central Florida, that brings together resources from a partnership of private businesses, government, religious groups, educators, and health and human service organizations.  Volunteers serve on four active committees, representing over 85 organizations.  Success By 6 is an initiative to make early childhood development a top priority in Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties. Over 300 United Way groups across the country are mobilizing their communities to ensure that by the age of six, all children have the physical, emotional, social, and mental foundation to succeed in school and life.

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 10,000 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

 

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 1.5 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 will be held August 7, 2010 at the Lakeland Center.  Last year 5,472 family members attended this free event, with 3,050 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 136 children and performed 904 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
A Parent education series is completed at childcare sites in collaboration with our partner, Healthy Families Polk. A light supper and childcare are provided at this unique 6-night program to allow parents to relax and enjoy the classes. An improvement in parental awareness has been shown on the post-test versus the pre-tests.  Click here for the 2010 schedule.

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 120 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 30,000 books last year!

No child should be uninsured! Florida KidCare is a children’s health insurance program for uninsured children under age 19. It includes four programs: MediKids, Healthy Kids, Children’s Medical Services and Medicaid. Eligibility is based on household income and family size. Parents can go to www.floridakidcare.org to apply online or to print an application or call 1-888-540-5437 for more information. Application assistance is available at Family Fundamentals.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides children with a free new book every month for their first five years. Dolly Parton started Imagination Library in 1995, to fight illiteracy in her eastern Tennessee community. Research shows that disadvantaged children come to school years behind their peers in pre-reading skills, and rarely catch up — and that the children still struggling to read in 3rd grade are the ones who eventually drop out.  Evaluations indicate that Imagination Library is getting kids more interested in reading – and getting their parents more comfortable reading to their children. The average cost in Polk County is $2.50 per month for one child to receive an age appropriate book mailed to their home, to build their own private library.  $3,000 provides 100 children with one book per month for one year. Each child receives one book per month up to their fifth birthday. Children must be under the age of 5 and reside in a project zip code area, which is selected by the donors/sponsors.  8 out of 10 middle-income children in Polk County enter Kindergarten ready to read. Only 2 out of 10 low-income children are ready.  For that reason low-income sites are targeted when enrolling children.  Polk County areas currently in the program are Bartow, Fort Meade, Lake Wales and Lakeland’s Crystal Lake Area (zip 33801). Donor dollars are designated to the area of their choice.

To find out more about Success By 6 or how you can help, call Jodi Miller at 863.648.1500 ext. 265.