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The Child Care Partnership Project The United Way Success By 6® Initiative |
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Description What is Success By 6®? It is a United Way initiative that takes many forms to ensure that children enter school healthy and ready to succeed by age 6. United Way organizations across the country have been investing in early childhood development through the Success By 6® initiative by creating linkages among existing programs in communities. United Way organizations enlist community leaders to coordinate the efforts of business, government, labor, education, and health and human service providers to improve the coordination of early childhood services. A 5-year, $50 million commitment from Bank of America is helping United Way to strengthen existing and develop future Success By 6® initiatives. Partners While Bank of America is the only national partner for Success By 6®, each local initiative has its own array of partners that include businesses, government (local, city, and/or state agencies), media, chambers of commerce, early childhood professionals, health systems (health insurance and hospitals), and law enforcement. History and Development In 1983, the mayor, superintendent of schools, and corporate and community leaders in Minneapolis formed an organization to study unemployment among adults. Study results showed that "businesses concerned about the quality of a shrinking work force must be concerned about the quality of the early childhood development." This statement underscored the concerns of community leaders and early care providers, and set the stage for the launch of Success By 6® in 1988. Partners from many sectors, led by Honeywell CEO Jim Renier, were eager to come together to address the barriers to healthy early childhood development. United Way was the perfect convening partner, since its community initiatives focus on problems that cannot be solved by a single agency or program. In time, other United Way organizations became interested and contacted Minneapolis about how to replicate Success By 6®. By 1999, 300 Success By 6® sites, nationwide, are working on strategies to improve policies and services and to raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development. Each Success By 6® initiative is issue-oriented, and many focus on building community support and linkages around child care. In 1998, when Bank of America contributed $50 million over 5 years to United Way, Success By 6® initiatives in the 21 states where Bank of America operates received a shot in the arm. This contribution provides funding to focus initiatives on outcomes, as well as strategies. Current Activities All Success By 6® initiatives encourage and support multi-sector collaboration that usually includes the private and public sectors. Success By 6® differs from community to community, but they all focus on one or more of the following goals: heightening public awareness; strengthening public policy; improving access to health and child care services; and expanding leadership on behalf of children and families. The following examples illustrate the activities and strategies of two Success By 6® initiatives. In Columbia, South Carolina, the Success By 6® initiative leveraged resources and advocated for child and health care in a neighborhood development project. In collaboration with the Richland School District and the Columbia Housing Authority, Success By 6®, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, will establish and maintain a child development center on housing authority grounds. In 1998, a partnership between Success By 6® and the Rockbridge Area Child Care Coalition in Rockbridge County, Virginia, helped stabilize an uneven system of child care. The sudden closing of several large child care facilities led this community to recognize and address its lack of a comprehensive approach to meeting its child care needs. Crisis became opportunity when the coalition applied for and received a Success By 6® grant to assess and address the child care needs of the community. The Success By 6® of the Rockbridge Area Child Care Coalition provides a responsive forum for the community to come together and design a long-term strategic plan to address child care needs. Resources Across the country, United Way Success By 6® initiatives garner resources in a myriad of ways. Most combine resources from businesses, government, and civic groups such as the Junior League to fund and implement the work of the collaborative. In-kind contributions include the business skills of private partners and the personnel provided to support the initiative. The largest and most significant gift, bar none, has been the $50 million contribution of Bank of America for Success By 6® initiatives in the 21 states and the District of Columbia where the bank operates. More than 700 local United Way organizations are eligible to receive Bank of America funding, and five statewide programs (in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, California, and Arizona) have received grants to develop or implement state strategies. Bank of America funds are used to promote collaboration and monitor results. Each year, at least 10% of the money goes to planning, and the remainder is allocated to implement or sustain initiatives. Results The most significant result of the Bank of America funding is the growth in the number of Success By 6® initiatives. Since the initial payment of $10 million in 1998, the number of Success By 6® sites has grown by 20% each year. Of the 300 Success By 6® initiatives nationwide, 138 have received assistance through Bank of America funds. In 1999, 80 Success By 6® grants were awarded to communities in the early stages of establishing and defining their initiative, and 58 grants were distributed to communities to assist with the implementation of their plans or to enhance the work of an established initiative. Sustaining and Replicating The Bank of America’s financial support to Success By 6® recipients has enabled these initiatives to focus on sustainability by emphasizing outcome measurement. This results-oriented focus reflects both the entrepreneurial spirit of the initiative and the evolution of United Way organizations. United Way agencies have changed the focus from a strategy of funding outputs and repairing deficits to a focus on producing positive outcomes. Business partners are interested in putting their time and money toward measurable outcomes. Though each Success By 6® community has its own evaluation or measurement in place, Bank of America has facilitated the evaluation process at selected sites by providing the funds for technical assistance to focus on outcomes in a systematic way. Ultimately, the ability to document outcomes and show results will enable communities to impact public policy and leverage additional public and private resources to sustain their work in the future. Lessons Learned Recruit! Success By 6® volunteers are most often recruited; they rarely self-identify. United Way organizations are usually the recruiters "making the case" for their involvement. Volunteers who embrace the vision become empowered advocates of Success By 6®. Have a little patience. It takes time for folks to fully understand the nature of the initiative and to understand that it is not about providing competing services, but better coordinating existing services. It is important to provide education and awareness on the initiative and to have patience as partners grasp the concept. Maintain the commitment. Keep your volunteers committed. Engage and provide participants with an active role to keep them energized and to remind them how valuable they really are. Take volunteers on tours of child care centers and neonatal clinics. Create enjoyable opportunities for them to learn while engaging their hearts! Contact Karen Smiley |
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