Success By 6

Success By 6 is an early childhood movement led by the United Way spearheaded by the Women’s Leadership Council .

With similar initiatives located in over 300 cities and states in America and Canada, Success By 6 is a community based, public–private partnership of individuals and organizations that share a common vision—that children are ready to succeed when they enter school.

Success By 6 is rooted in the belief that a community working together toward a common vision can generate and implement an effective plan to improve outcomes for all children.
We envision a community that will ensure all children by age 6 are healthy, safe and functioning physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially at their optimal potential.

Success By 6 is guided by medical and scientific research [source: National Research Council (NRC)]. This research proves that half of all intellectual development potential is established by age four, and the experiences of young children in the first six years have a lasting impact on later success and life.

Thanks to an initial donation of $50,000 from Chevron Texaco, the Women's Leadership Council of United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area rallied community leaders to secure the necessary resources to positively impact the lives of young children.

There is shared commitment in the foundation and action of Success By 6. Partners are recruited from all sectors of the community to ensure a diverse perspective. Each partner has a voice, a vote and a role in the initiative, backed by the authority of their 'home' organization to participate in the decision making process.

Guided by an outcome-focused planning process, partners developed strategies based on local data, best practices and evidence on factors affecting readiness to learn. This is vital for system level impact within public schools and the child care and health care industries.

Current activities of Success By 6
After working for one year through an evidence-based decision-making process, the collaborative partners have identified seven key areas that affect school readiness:

• High-quality childcare
• Strong relationship with parent/caretaker
• Economic opportunities for families
• Engaged neighborhood residents
• Safe, attractive neighborhoods
• Families with access to services
• Healthy development on track

Our first focus is high-quality childcare. Stay tuned for more information about our efforts.