What is Success By 6?
Success by 6® is a United Way initiative designed to ensure that all Bay Area children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. United Way supports early childhood development through literacy programs for kids and their families, professional development for early childhood teachers and center directors, and advocates for policies that include better compensation and improved quality of the child care workforce. In addition, United Way has launched the Born Learning campaign, an innovative public engagement campaign that helps parents, caregivers and communities create quality early learning opportunities for young children.

Success by 6®, supported by United Way’s Bay Area Community Fund, aligns with our goal of poverty prevention, through early child development.

The Challenge
Research findings suggest that what happens to children early in life has a profound impact on their later achievement. Children who enter school not ready to learn continue to have difficulty later in life. They perform less well in elementary and high school than their higher performing peers and are more likely to become teen parents, engage in criminal activities, and suffer from depression. Ultimately, these children attain less education and are more likely to be unemployed as adults.

The Solution
We know that children who attend quality preschool programs are more likely to perform better on standardized tests, complete high school and continue their education beyond high school. We also know that children whose parents provide them with an enriching environment and read with them regularly are found to have significantly more success with early reading skills.

Success by Six® utilizes strategies that get to the root causes of young children’s lack of school readiness by:

• Raising awareness of parents’ critical role as the child’s first teacher through Born Learning.
• Supporting early literacy by spreading the Raising a Reader family literacy program to preschools, child care centers, family day care homes and home visiting programs.
• Supporting professional development efforts for childcare providers so that they have what they need to support children’s growth.
• Building a qualified early care and education workforce through the Working for Quality Childcare initiative and the Child Development Corps.