Community Impact Focus Area: Education

Now available for download: Ready by 21 Continuum of Youth Development—Priority Outcomes for Child and Youth Well-Being Travis County 2009

Goal: To create opportunities for children and youth to learn, grow, and engage

Perhaps no other “building block” is more essential to future success than a quality education. But sadly, many groups in Central Texas don’t have the same opportunity to learn, thrive, and succeed as others. So United Way Capital Area has made providing educational opportunities to everyone a major priority.

The United Way Strategy

We decided to address educational disparities in two major ways.

First, we make sure that every child in our community is “healthy, happy, and smart” by the time they enter the first grade. We call this initiative “Success By 6.”

Second, in order to boost and lagging high-school graduation rate, we are focused on middle school students—where many future drop-outs begin to fall behind and where we can make the greatest, longest lasting impact. We call this our “Youth Education” initiative.

Defining Success

United Way is committed to constantly measuring the success of our efforts, because this is about community-wide, long-term change—not just short-term solutions. Here is a small sample of how we intend to determine how well we’re doing: