UWSC launches early childhood development partnership, Success By 6

The United Way of St. Charles is launching a new early childhood development partnership to enhance support for parents and improve early learning for children in the area.

UWSC’s Success By 6 promotes the concept, that by age six, all children in the parish will attain the necessary mental, physical, social and emotional development to successfully embrace educational and social opportunities for growth and learning.

SB6 is the largest network of early childhood coalitions in the country and is currently in over 350 cities in the United States and Canada.

“Preschool experiences should be designed to promote children’s ability to successfully make the transition to school,” Jan Walker, director of community impact for the United Way of St. Charles, said. “Studies of a wide variety of programs such as Success By 6 and other model programs have shown that one or two years of preschool can improve children’s school readiness, early scholastic achievement and school competence.”

While SB6 seeks to enhance the learning ability of young children, it does not provide direct services, except in the case of demonstration or “pilot” projects. Instead, members of the steering committee, which consist of leaders from various businesses, churches, schools and other community based programs, will come up with a comprehensive plan for the young children to follow.

“By helping to build and sustain high-quality early learning models, it is hoped that resources can be efficiently used to support parents and ensure that all children and families have access to high-quality early learning,” Denise Brodsky, executive director of United Way of St. Charles, said. “Regardless of where children spend the majority of their time.”

Superintendent Dr. Rodney Lafon, who was in attendance for the first Success By 6 meeting, offered his full support to the project.

“In order for children to be successful when they begin school, they need the necessary mental, physical and emotional development,” he said. “As Superintendent of St. Charles Parish Public Schools, I enthusiastically support Success By 6 because it is a local initiative which links many and varied community resources to support pre-school age children and prepare them for success as they enter school.”