The United Way Success by 6® Wilmington Initiative (SB6-Wilmington) is an early learning collaborative consisting of 21 schools and organizations that strive to create a community-wide school readiness effort for Wilmington families. SB6-Wilmington has been in operation since 2001 and has experienced success in building strengths-based collaborations to support early education efforts in the Wilmington community.
In an August 2006 meeting, partner organizations expressed a desire to enhance the current work of the collaborative by building agencies’ capacity to support parents’ active involvement in guiding and monitoring their children’s education. In response to this identified need, United Way contracted with Families In Schools to provide a menu of programs and technical assistance to SB6-Wilmington. FIS provided program support and direct services to SB6 – Wilmington in the following focus areas:
Leadership & Capacity-Building for Organizations
Program Planning
Collaborative Leadership
Nonprofit Fundraising
Building Partnerships with Schools
Evaluation Planning
Family Literacy
Read With Me/Lea Conmigo
Blueprints for Parents
Parent Education
Passport to Success: Understanding Parent Rights & Responsibilities under NCLB
Passport to Success: Educating English Learners
Passport to Success: Successful School Practices that Promote Student Achievement
Passport to Success: The Road to College begins at Birth
Transition to Middle School
Ready for Kinder
Parent Leadership
LEAD: Leadership for Educational Achievement & Democracy
Since Families In Schools began this capacity-building project in Wilmington in November 2006, the SB6 collaborative has shown dramatic growth in its capacity to support parents’ active involvement in guiding and monitoring their children’s education. Through exposure to organizational development & leadership trainings, family literacy programs, parent education curricula and programs, and parent leadership programs, SB6 and the Wilmington community is better equipped to achieve community-wide goals for families and youth. Families In Schools looks forward to continued collaboration with United Way, SB6 partner organizations, Wilmington schools, parents, and the Wilmington community as we strive together to improve educational and social opportunities for all.