Success By 6® Boston, United Way of Massachusetts Bay

Description

The goal of Success By 6® is found in its name—that every child is ready to succeed in school by age six. United Way sponsors 200 local Success By 6® initiatives across the country. The goals of Boston’s Success by 6® initiative are to raise awareness about early childhood development, improve access to critical health and human services for young children and their families, and advocate public policies that enhance the lives of all children. Success By 6® Boston, an initiative of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB), has taken a unique approach to these challenges. Through its high-level executive Leadership Council, Success By 6® Boston focuses primarily on statewide public policy to meet its goals.

The Leadership Council of Success By 6® (SB6) Boston is a 50-member voluntary committee of Boston’s top leaders from a broad range of sectors. Members include:

• business executives, including the heads of BankBoston and Fleet Bank;
• city government leaders, including the Mayor of Boston;
• civic leaders;
• education leaders, including the Superintendent of Schools, the Vice Chair of the Boston Public School System, and University presidents;
• health professionals and organizations, including early childhood pediatric specialists;
• labor leaders;
• religious leaders;
• media and advertising executives;
• community-based, non-profit organization leaders; and
• law enforcement officials, including the Boston Police Commissioner.

SB6 Boston also works with a broad range of United Way partners, including child care providers, schools, parent educators, resource providers, health care providers, hospitals, churches, youth recreation, shelters, and other community and government service providers.

In 1994, the UWMB recognized that the needs of Massachusetts’ youngest children were not being met. Massachusetts needed an investment strategy that would actively involve business and government in supporting quality child care, health, and education for children from birth to age 6. The SB6 framework was adopted to help generate additional financial resources, influence public policy, and educate Massachusetts residents about the importance of healthy early childhood development.

To shape the initiative in Boston, UWMB in 1994 brought together over 200 community and business leaders to define an early childhood investment agenda for SB6. Unlike many other SB6 initiatives that focus mainly on providing direct services, the Boston SB6 created a 50-member Leadership Council, chaired by the chief executive officer of BankBoston, to push broad public investments and policies on behalf of young children. UWMB also continued to support and prioritize early childhood programs and direct services for young children and their families under the umbrella name of SB6, funded by private sources raised through UWMB fundraising.

The SB6 Leadership Council works with the Massachusetts State legislature to develop innovative ways to increase public funding for young children and their families.

Each year, the SB6 Leadership Council creates an early childhood public policy agenda. For the past several years, the Leadership Council’s agendas have focused on improving the health status of young children and strengthening child care quality. The agendas are often established in collaboration with partner organizations, such as Health Care for All, Massachusetts Children’s Trust Fund, YMCA of Massachusetts, Catholic Charities, Massachusetts Association of Day Care Agencies, Parents United for Child Care, and other advocacy groups. Leadership Council members promote the SB6 agenda through letter writing, phone calls, meetings with legislators, and by providing testimony at public hearings.

In 1997, SB6, and the Massachusetts Children’s Trust Fund successfully lobbied to increase state funding for the New-Born Home Visiting programs. Funding grew from $5 million to over $7 million in fiscal year 1998.

SB6 Boston created an initiative, "Invest in Children," to sell specialty license plates in order to raise private funds to improve the quality of child care in Massachusetts. SB6 Boston crafted the legislation for this initiative and was instrumental in its passage.

The funds raised will be used by non-profit child care organizations to train providers, receive technical assistance for National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation, support parent education, and/or purchase educational materials. In addition, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay is providing $125,000 for marketing to create awareness of the license plates and the importance of quality child care.

The 1998 legislative agenda focused on the continued funding for a voluntary, universally accessible home visiting program for first-time parents under the age of 20, and advocating for a comprehensive approach to address the growing need for quality child care. SB6 also focuses on increasing funds for child care subsidies, improving the quality of child care through provider training and compensation, and expanding quality child care facilities. To date, SB6 successfully lobbied the state legislature for $16 million to increase child care subsidies.

Other current services of SB6 Boston include:

• a collaborative service program with the Department of Public Health to create and distribute Child Health Diaries to all parents of newborns statewide in order to increase child immunization rates;
• a Parent Phone Line for parenting information and referrals; and
• Volunteer Connection, a department of the United Way Massachusetts Bay, which matches volunteers with early childhood programs throughout Boston.

UWMB will disseminate $31.6 million in community grants during the 1998-1999 program year. These funds were raised through the UWMB annual fundraising campaign and foundation grants. $16.1 million in SB6 grants was awarded to 69 agencies that primarily serve young children.

In-kind support for SB6 Boston comes from the resources of the Leadership Council, such as:

• Channel 5’s Community Awareness Campaign and public service announcements;
• stationery printed and provided by BankBoston;
• SB6 messages on ATM receipts of participating banks; and
• newspaper advertising space donated by the Boston Globe.

Through the formulation of public policy, SB6 generates resources for larger, state-sponsored or state-supported early childhood initiatives. For example, the Leadership Council helped secure an extra $16 million from the state legislature to increase child care subsidies for the working poor. The "Invest in Children" specialty license plate is expected to raise $2 million through sales revenue.

Brandeis University’s Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare conducted an evaluation of SB6 Boston. Results include:

• new funds to support child care quality improvement through the specialty license plates;
• increased funding in the 1998 state budget for child care subsidies for low-income and working families;
• increased awareness about the need for additional high-quality child care facilities;
• increased name recognition for SB6 and awareness of children’s issues as a result of the Community Awareness Campaign produced and aired by Channel 5; and
• improved child health outcomes from higher rates of immunization and well-child visits stimulated by the Child Health Diary Program.

Since 1989, United Ways across the country have been investing in SB6 early childhood initiatives. More than 200 communities across the country have copied the SB6 model that was originally developed by the United Way of Minneapolis. The model includes raising awareness about early childhood development, improving access to critical health and human services, and lobbying for public policies that support all young children. The Boston model is successful in its use of business leadership to advance a public policy agenda.

Key elements of the SB6 Boston initiative that could be replicated include:

• engaging business leadership;
• focusing efforts on a strategically limited agenda;
• using public relations as a strategy for rewarding partners and raising awareness; and
• collaborating and forming partnerships with a variety of sectors.

In Massachusetts, SB6 Boston’s Leadership Council will continue to promote policies and programs for young children by raising public and legislative awareness about children’s issues and developing strategies to improve the quality of services for children. SB6 Boston will also collaborate with one of the United Way’s new initiatives, Keeping Kids on Track, which focuses on youth ages 7 to 18. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay hopes to use SB6 and this new initiative to develop a continuum of services for children from birth through age 18.

SB6 Boston has created a documentary video about its work and unique structure for other communities and SB6 partnerships interested in replicating the initiative.

Have a realistic agenda. SB6 Boston has been successful in lobbying and working with legislators because it has prioritized and limited its agenda to a few key items, such as home visiting programs and increased funding for child care subsidies. SB6 leaders have found that legislators tend to be most receptive when realistic requests are made for the state’s limited resources. The same practice works with the Leadership Council, which prefers a specific agenda instead of a plate of options.

Use top level leadership. SB6 Boston selected the Leadership Council keeping in mind that CEOs, presidents, superintendents, and other top-level leaders are effective messengers, particularly in the statehouse. SB6 has learned that much of its success is due to the influence of high-level leadership.

Create a win-win situation for business. SB6 Boston strategically presents business leaders to the public as model community members and supporters of children and families. Good public relations encourages further business support. In addition, SB6 found that businesses appreciate the opportunity to meet state legislators on the neutral ground of "supporting children."

Create a win-win situation for legislators. SB6 Boston has established positive, long-lasting relationships with legislators. As with business leaders, SB6 publicly recognizes legislators for their support, and targets this publicity to legislators’ most important audience: the voters. SB6 learned that a simple "thank you" letter goes a long way with legislators, and that bridge-building activities encourage continued support.