The History of Success By 6®

Lane County

Success By 6® is not an agency or a program, but a community-wide children's initiative that brings together resources from a partnership of private businesses, government, faith communities, education, and health and human service organizations.

Success By 6® focuses on a single issue: quality early childhood development for all children from conception to age six. This effort grew out of a 1997 PeaceHealth Board initiative, which charged a group of community health leaders with the task of addressing community health problems with non-medical answers. The prevention of child abuse and neglect became the first project of the community health leaders group.

United Way of Lane County has embarked on the task of convening the Success By 6® initiative to improve the lives of our children in a lasting and profound way. United Way of Lane County is an organization experienced in bringing business, community, government, faith communities and agency leaders to the same problem-solving table. United Way is experienced in raising required funds and in mobilizing volunteers to solve community problems. By using its planning experience, connection to funders and government relationships, United Way acts as a way to bring various community groups together to help people in need.

Nationally

Success By 6® was first created in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1989 as a collaborative community initiative to focus attention and take action on strategies to help all children achieve healthy early development. It included partners representing key sectors of the community including United Way, corporations, schools, government, service organizations and others. Success By 6® identified the key barriers to all children achieving positive early development, and set a vision and plan of action for eliminating them. The plan included working collaboratively to raise public awareness, influence public policies, and increase access to services - all with the goal of helping young children succeed.

While United Ways have a long tradition of supporting agencies and programs that help young children and their families, Success By 6® was different. It was not a program. It was created as a collaborative community building initiative that made the "case" for the community to understand the importance of positive early childhood development to later success, and advance it through new and systemic strategies engaging partners from all sectors of the community. This approach appealed to many United Ways across the country and they began adapting the Success By 6® model. There are currently over 300 Success By 6® or like initiatives in 42 states at various stages of development and implementation. Since 1991, United Way of America has provided technical assistance and support to United Ways on implementing Success By 6®.

1999 - Present

On February 4, 1999, Bank of America [Nations Bank] announced a five-year investment of $50 million in United Way's Success By 6®. Bank of America President and CEO, Hugh McColl, in announcing the grant stated that, "Our partnership with United Way of America and Success By 6® is deliberate. An investment in early childhood development will ensure a brighter future for children, families and the nation. In my opinion there is no more effective way to strengthen our communities and our country".

Research shows the importance of positive child development during the early years to later success in school and in life as well as to prevent many social and economic problems, such as illiteracy, youth violence, teen pregnancy and unemployment. If the development of children is to be improved, a high priority needs to be placed on meeting their needs when they are very young.