 | A poster for the Success by 6® initiative, which provides children in New Haven and its surrounding communities with the tools they need for school and life success. |
For the second year, the University will provide a matching gift of $100,000 for contributions to the United Way of Greater New Haven (UWGNH) campaign at Yale, President Richard C. Levin has announced.
This challenge gift is designed to encourage members of the Yale community to become first-time donors and to inspire those who already support United Way to increase their level of giving.
Yale's matching gift will again be invested in UWGNH's Success By 6® (SB6) initiative, which works to ensure that all children in the Greater New Haven community and the region, whatever their social or economic background, have the tools needed for academic and lifelong success.
The 2004-2005 United Way campaign raised over $411,000 for SB6 with more than half ($228,000) from the Yale community ($100,000 from Yale's matching gift and $128,000 from individual Yale employees). These funds were used to award $232,000 for nine innovative programs in the first SB6 grant cycle. Another $200,000 was used directly to support "slots" in local high quality early learning centers by creating a sliding fee scale so that more children can attend programs their parents might not otherwise be able to afford.
John E. Pepper, vice president for finance and administration, applauds this effort: "I am especially glad to be working on this year's United Way campaign because of the new initiative Success By 6. I've seen this program work. It is a nationally proven model aimed at ensuring that all of our children are ready to learn when they enter school. We ask for your special help this year in putting into place a program desperately needed by thousands and thousands of youngsters in this community -- youngsters who truly will be our future."
The SB6 effort also leveraged a $797,000, 17-month grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve quality, support caregivers, and increase child and family literacy skills. Other organizations partnering with UWGNH for the project include New Haven Public Schools, New Haven Free Public Library, ACES, All Our Kin, Casa Otoñal, Connecticut Children's Museum, Gateway Community College and Read To Grow.
In addition, in-kind contributions of nearly $100,000 were given by two corporate partners. Eight new "Young Explorer" child computer workstations were funded by IBM Corporation for SB6 grantees, and 10,000 bilingual copies of the "ABC's of School Readiness" resource books were produced by U.S. Surgical.
UWGNH launched SB6, the nation's largest community-based early childhood movement, in October 2004. The decision to initiate this program was based on data collected from the United Way-led Community Compass Partnership, which drew together over 30 leading New Haven area employers and organizations -- including Yale -- to identify the region's most pressing issues.
SB6 is a collaborative effort that draws on a wide-ranging advisory board co-chaired by Dr. Margaret Hostetter, the Jean McClean Professor and chair of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital. Other Yale community board members include Dr. James Lewis III, chief of operations of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence at the Yale Child Study Center; Dr. Morris Wessel, clinical professor of pediatrics; and Dr. John M. Leventhal, professor of pediatrics and at the Child Study Center. (A complete list of board members and program activities is available at www.uwgnh.org/sb6.)
On the "Power of Us" poster promoting this year's Yale-United Way drive, April Rowe, financial assistant for the neurology department, explains why she supports the campaign and SB6: "I give to United Way because the monies are given to the 'Birth to Three' program, which helps developmentally delayed children like my son Jonathan."
Locally, the priorities of SB6 are to increase preschool attendance in New Haven and the inner ring, to improve the quality of the preschool experience for all children in the region, to support and educate parents and caregivers, and to raise public awareness about the positive effects of quality early childhood experiences for the community at large.
The following programs were selected by the SB6 Advisory Board in the first SB6 grant cycle:
ACES -- to establish a Family Resource Center for parent education through ACES-integrated preschool programs in North Haven, New Haven, Hamden, East Haven and West Haven.
All Our Kin -- to support the Family Child Care Toolkit Box Licensing Project, which provides materials, mentorship and support to help unlicensed, illegal caregivers meet health and safety standards and become part of a professional community of childcare givers.
Community Mediation -- to expand its existing partnership with Head Start through the Village Voice Project, providing mediation services to family members in conflict over child rearing practices and help them better support their children.
Connecticut Children's Museum -- to assist with a series of teachers workshops to broaden the literacy skill set of early childhood educators through "Puppets + Paperbacks."
Fair Haven Community Health Center -- to support a group care model for well baby visits.
Hamden/North Haven YMCA -- to train existing head teachers and assistant teachers in working with infants, toddlers and preschool children.
Hamden School Readiness Council -- to offer a series of child development and school readiness programs that support and educate parents and early care and education providers through the Hamden Education Leadership Project.
New Haven School Readiness Council -- to implement the parent education component of "The ABC's of School Readiness," including bilingual materials; regular play dates with children, parents and trained child care providers; toys and books for home use; and child care provider training.
West Haven Community House -- to foster early literacy among nearly 200 children using the Head Start preschool program, including Raising a Reader Parent Clubs.
More information about this year's United Way campaign and links to the UWGNH and SB6 are available at www.yale.edu/unitedway.
T H I S
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