Success By 6
Overview of Our Success
In the past half decade, United Way has devoted significant resources in grants and staff time to improving school readiness. Tackling early education for at-risk children requires a community-wide effort in the areas of education, income and health. United Way is working with an expanding number of individuals and organizations to bring the expertise and resources needed to get things done. Here is a review of the initiative known as Success By 6 and its impact on the community, as well as, an overview of how the efforts have evolved to include new resources and innovative programs.
Since 2005, United Way has awarded $1,806,184 to programs dedicated to improving school readiness. Overall, the grantees have reported back positive outputs and outcomes that impact the leading indicators on improving school readiness.
Though it would be ideal to track participating children from birth to high school graduation to gauge our community’s success in this effort, it has not been feasible. This is due to the expense to implement and monitor such a database and the transient nature of the population being served. Though we hope to be able to gather this local data in the future, we can look to research conducted at the University of Florida and across the nation that lets us know our strategies are ones that are making an impact.
Dental Care Key to a Child's Success
Dental Outreach Education and Treatment has been a component of Success By 6 since it began. A highly impactful indicator of school success is access to dental care and early preventative treatments. Research shows a direct link between dental health and school success. ACORN Clinic has been awarded $95,000 over three years to serve more than 5,127 children. Shortterm outcomes from this program show an increase in knowledge about dental hygiene and an increase in return visits for cleaning of 85 percent.
To increase our impact in this area, United Way is partnering with ACORN, UF, Alachua County Schools and Oral Health America to provide sealants to elemenary school children who would otherwise have no access to dental care. By providing oral health screening, education, and prevention programs, like varnish and follow-up visits for preschool-aged children, our community can decrease the number of children who miss school due to mouth pain.
Programs Address Immediate Needs
Early childhood intervention takes at-risk children from birth to six, working both in home and out of home, using highly successful programs to essentially put these kids on a conveyer belt to success.
Success By 6 has awarded grants to three home visitation programs focused on educating parents, one dental education and treatment program, various parenting classes, and child care provider training. In addition, Success By 6 has provided Snuggle Up Centers in local librarires, Welcome Baby Kits and home libraries for families without books in the home. All of the grants awarded and other programs implemented were selected because they used proven techniques to improve school readiness.
Though the school’s tools used to measure a child’s readiness have evolved over the past five years and there is no tracking mechanism for Success By 6 participants once they get into school, local and national experts agree that helping these children today will enable us to achieve our goals tomorrow.
The evolution of Success By 6 is being guided by community volunteers and experts in early education who bring practical experience, expert knowledge and a passion for children’s issues together. You can help by giving to United Way, conducting a book drive or volunteering in one of the many capacities necessary to help us bridge the gap between available resources and community needs.