By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Success By 6, an early-childhood development program championed by United Way organizations nationwide, seeks to make sure that all children receive quality health care and educational experiences during their early formative years.

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati unveiled a four-point plan Thursday launching the program in Hamilton County.

"It's cliche to say that today's children are tomorrow's leaders. But like most cliches, there's truth in the saying," said Jim Zimmerman, chairman of the Success By 6 steering council and chairman of Federated Department Stores Inc.

"The need for our community to address the issue of early childhood development on a comprehensive basis has never been greater," he said.

Zimmerman outlined strategies for Success By 6 before a group of business and community leaders at the Cintas Center at Xavier University.

Success by 6 programs operate in more than 350 communities in the United States and Canada.

David Lawrence, retired publisher of the Miami Herald and president of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation in Miami-Dade County in Florida, talked about the success of a similar program there.

"If you build a movement that encompasses everyone, the people will be wise enough to sign on," Lawrence said.

Zimmerman estimated that fewer than half of African-American students in Cincinnati graduate from high school.

By the time they reached first grade, many of them were already on track to drop out, he said.

Nearly 70,000 children under the age of 6 live in Hamilton County; more than 20,000 of them live in poverty.

Poverty alone doesn't mean children won't succeed in school, Zimmerman said. But when combined with gaps in health care, and lagging social-emotional development and cognitive skills, children are more likely to be unprepared for school, he said.

"Ninety percent of brain growth occurs by age 3," said Robert C. Reifsnyder, president of the United Way.

"A child in full-time early child care and education from infancy to age 5 will spend as much time there as he or she will spend in a classroom during grades 1-12. We need to do everything to maximize that potential."

Zimmerman said there are no measures in place in Cincinnati to assess a child's readiness for school. Success By 6 would conduct cognitive, social and emotional readiness assessments for all children entering kindergarten, he said.

The program would also:

• Assess health needs of these children - hearing, vision, immunizations, dental, nutrition and blood-lead levels - and make needed referrals.

• Improve early childhood health care and education by increasing parental access.

• Streamline and coordinate the service delivery system and identify additional financial resources as needed.

Zimmerman said the next steps would be to hire an executive director to oversee the program, pull together action teams to implement the program's strategies and raise community awareness, and create a demand for quality and progress.

It is unknown at this point, Zimmerman said, how much money would be needed to fully fund the initiative.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com