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July 18, 2006

United Way invests over $200,000 in local early childhood programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2006

Media Contact: Sarah McNeely
203.772.2010, Ext.225
smcneely@uwgnh.org

United Way of Greater New Haven has awarded nearly $200,000 to eight local nonprofit organizations for their early childhood programs. Grants were made as part of United Way’s Success By 6® initiative and are focused on improving the quality of early care and increasing parents’ and primary caregivers’ knowledge of the developmental milestones their children should meet to be ready for school.

United Way received over $500,000 in grant requests. Funding decisions were made by a committee of volunteers from area organizations such as NewAlliance Bank, Higher One, WTNH-CH 8, Bank of America and Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

The following organizations received a second year of Success By 6 funding for their early childhood programs:
Area Cooperative Educational Services for its Family Resource Center
All Our Kin for its Family Child Care Toolkit Box Licensing Project
Fair Haven Community Health Center for its Well Baby Group Care Program
New Haven School Readiness Council for The ABCs of School Readiness Project
West Haven Community House for its Raising a Reader program

The following programs were awarded new Success By 6 grants:
Greater Dwight Development Corporation for its Montessori School on Edgewood program
The New Haven Reads Community Book Bank for its Kindergarten Success project
West Haven Child Development Center for its Early Childhood Team Approach project.

Through Success By 6, United Way will also invest over $20,000 to help child care programs throughout the region attain accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

ABOUT Success By 6
Success By 6 is the nation’s largest community-based early childhood movement. Its goal is to ensure that all children birth to six are healthy, nurtured and ready to learn by the time they enter kindergarten.

United Way of Greater New Haven launched Success By 6 in October 2004 based on key findings presented by the Community Compass data collection project.

Among the data collected and analyzed, Economic Health/Disparity and Education Disparity surfaced as regional issues of highest priority. These issues profoundly affect the region’s most vulnerable children, as economic challenges and lack of quality early learning experiences can place them at a disadvantage from the start. Their chances for success in school and in later life are greatly affected as a result.

Through Success By 6, United Way is committed to addressing the root causes of these problems in order to improve outcomes for children and change lives.

Yale University and the NewAlliance Foundation each contributed grant dollars to start Success By 6 and donor support has continued to grow ever since.

About United Way:
United Way mobilizes the caring power of our community to create measurable, sustainable change and to improve lives. To do this we: help identify our region's greatest needs and best opportunities for change; raise dollars and invest those dollars for results; connect people to their caring through volunteer opportunities.

For more information about United Way of Greater New Haven’s community leadership and how you can help please visit www.uwgnh.org.


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