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Success By 6® Initiative

Success By 6 (SB6) is the largest network of early childhood coalitions in the country. In over 350 cities, counties and states in the United States and Canada, SB6 is a community-based, public-private partnership of individuals and organizations, including United Way, that share a common vision – children ready to succeed when they enter school. SB6 is a multi-sector initiative.

Success by 6 Strategy for Ocean County

The United Way of Ocean County has adopted a strategy to customize and implement the Success by 6 Initiative for Ocean County children and families.

Our strategy was informed by national research, conducted by United Way of America’s National Success by 6 Initiative, which guides us to:
• raise awareness of the importance of early childhood development
• improve access to services for families
• advocate for public policies to improve young children’s chances for success in school and life.
We are also cognizant of the alarming fact that Ocean County, New Jersey ranks 2nd in the state for domestic violence, and 5th in the state for child abuse and neglect. The children represented by those statistics experience multiple barriers to school readiness. Brain research has shown that nurturing and wellbeing in the earliest years is crucial for emotional, social, and intellectual development. In order to ensure our young children’s wellbeing, our Success by 6 Strategy will promote the Five Protective Factors that can help families protect children from the risk of child abuse and neglect:

• Nurturing and attachment
• Knowledge of parenting, and of child development
• Parental resilience
• Social connections
• Concrete supports for parents

Several agencies within Ocean County whose focus is the wellbeing of our children deliver services that promote the implementation of These Five Protective Factors.

The goal of the Success by 6 Initiative is to provide the external education, encouragement, and services that will result in wellbeing and school readiness for Ocean County children.

In order to implement our Success by 6 strategy in Ocean County, UWOC will act as the intermediary, connecting community resources to populations where there are gaps in critical early childhood and family services. UWOC has established itself as the premiere umbrella organization in Ocean County for the past 32 years, and we enjoy a long history of functioning as a catalyst for community change. Our reach into the community of service providers will enable us to focus resources where they will have the most impact. As intermediary, we will also invest time seeking funding for the Success by 6 Initiative and all of its partner components, with the understanding that each partner will continue to pursue funding and partnerships outside the Success by 6 Initiative.

Success by 6 Strategy partner components:

I. Family Care
- Access to basic needs
- Parents’ support network
II. Family Education
- Parenting and child development
- School readiness
- Information and referral
- Financial Literacy

For more information about the United Way of Ocean County Success by 6 Strategy please write to info@unitedwayofocean.org