United Way Capital Area - Success By 6

United Way’s Success By 6 aims to make sure that by the time they enter their first year of school — at six-years-old-every child in Central Texas is prepared to become a healthy, happy, and smart student.

That can seem like a daunting task. So how does Success By 6 do it?

Collaboration

Through its facilitation by United Way, Success By 6 is a true "team effort." By bringing together more than 30 nonprofit organizations, community leaders, and businesses, Success By 6 hopes to address all of our children's major needs.

For example, Success By 6's annual "Child Well-Being Report Card" (below) - drawn from dozens of sources and child care experts-outlines the challenges facing children's health, happiness, and education. That information leads to action-whether it's at the state legislature, the school board, or the kitchen table.

Response

Success By 6 listens. None of this work happens "in a vacuum." Through extensive research, study, and conversations with educational leaders in our community, Success By 6 has identified where the problems lie and what solutions are most likely to create lasting results. This is part of United Way's larger strategy of identifying and addressing the most pressing needs of our community.

Success By 6's annual "Child Well-Being Report Card" - Updated!

Click here to download The 2009 Report Card on Child Well-Being for Austin/Travis County

Innovation

Through its various projects, Success By 6 is helping to create lasting change in how our children are prepared for school. Consider the launch of Born Learning, a wildly successful ongoing media campaign that turned thousands of parents into teachers, instructing them on the importance of helping their children learn from the earliest age. And then there's the Child-Care Facilities Improvement Project, which has already helped improve numerous local child-care centers with new supplies and building improvements.

Why is the work of Success By 6 so important?

A whopping 40% of our children - most of them underprivileged - show up for their first day of school, and they're already two years behind their peers developmentally. Sadly, when kids start behind, they stay behind. But research shows that high quality early care helps a young child's brain to develop properly, and prepares that child to succeed in school.

That's why United Way Success By 6 works with child care centers serving low-income families -- employing effective strategies and coordinating resources -- to help them improve.

Learn more about the good results of this important work:

• Quality Child Care Mentoring Collaboration
• Promoting Children’s Success through Improved Behavioral Health
• IBM and United Way Success By 6, an innovative collaboration
• EVERY $1 INVESTED in quality early childhood development...

Thank you for your generosity, and for creating opportunities for all of our children to succeed.