The program's leadership council announced Tuesday it has received its first grant - $717,600 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The money will be used during the next 17 months for a community center on wheels, public awareness campaign, mentoring program and data research.

"I had a strong feeling we would get this," said state Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Florence, a member of the leadership council who helped secure the grant. "I applaud this group for bringing the community and corporate partners together."

Success By 6 is a national program in 330 communities in the United States and Canada. The four goals of the Boone County program are to make sure children are born healthy, grow up healthy, are safe and nurtured, and are prepared to succeed in school. Among ways the program achieves those goals are through home visits by nurses to pregnant women and new moms, and through literacy programs.

This grant will help achieve those goals.

"It will have all the benefits to children and families, but also have an economic stimulus to the county," said Emily Shelton, a consultant who wrote the grant.

The leadership council is represented by 12 entities, including local government, corporations, schools and non-profit organizations.

This was the second time the council applied for the grant. It was turned down more than a year ago because the council didn't have the data to show what programs they needed.

Today, data is collected by testing all kindergartners the summer before they start school. Test results are given to each child's teacher.

"Where it used to take a teacher two to three months to figure out what a child's specific needs might be, they can now know right away," said Dawn Denham, executive director for Boone County's Success By 6.

Denham said the grant is the "springboard" the organization needed. "We're very excited. This is going to be an interesting 17 months in Boone County."

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