Success By 6

Success By 6 is an early childhood community collaborative dedicated to supporting our community through family and parent engagement, early behavioral and mental health services and greater awareness of resources for parents, caregivers, and early childhood providers.

The Success By 6 Coalition meets every other month, and is open to service providers, caregivers, and other interested persons. Use the sign-up form below receive updates and meeting invitations.

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We believe in the transformative power of investments within early childhood.

Jointly funded by United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties and Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley, Success By 6 is comprised of early childhood professionals, passionate grandparents and guardians, school administrators, nonprofit leaders, healthcare providers, police chiefs, entrepreneurs and other community members who believe in the transformative power of investments within high-quality programs for young children and their families.

Our Mission: To impact the success of children birth to age six through policy formation, environmental changes and direct services.

Our Vision: Success By 6 envisions a community where all children and families are happy, healthy and well-adjusted.

2017 Erikson EDI Collaboration

History of Success By 6

United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties and the Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley created Success By 6 in 2008 to ensure all Kankakee County children ages 0-6 have the necessary enriching experiences and positive parent-child relationships necessary to begin school ready to succeed. Since 2008, Success By 6 has led initiatives focused on parent support and school readiness such as early learning calendars, preschool fairs, parent cafes, Text4Baby, Kindergarten Bootcamps and caregiver trainings.

In 2016, Success By 6 partnered with the Erikson Institute of Chicago to implement the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Kankakee County. The EDI allowed us to measure our children's health, development, and school readiness. This served as a guide for our community in seeking to improve services and community conditions to better prepare children for success in school and life. While this program was sunset by Erikson post-pandemic, it provided us both data and a framework for forthcoming efforts.

In 2023, United Way and Success by 6 were awarded Kankakee County ARPA and Birth to Five Illinois funding. These funds empowered a new chapter of the Success By 6's story.

Our Community Navigator program conducts outreach to families with children from birth to age five to share resources and engage/enroll in programming.
Our Family Support Bus partnership and Coalition partnerships have allowed us to being coordinating free ASQ developmental screening events across both counties.
Our bi-monthly Coalition meetings enable us to lead coordination between school districts, foundations, nonprofits, child care providers, and other business owners around early childhood issues.
Our Connect & Play weekly parenting & caregiver programming provides space for parents and caregivers to find community, support, and answers regarding their child's development.

See what Birth to Five funds are empowering!

Local Initiatives

Kankakee & Iroquois County Strategic Plan

In order to better align our partnership efforts with long-term goals set by our Success By 6 Steering Committee, a Success By 6 Strategic Plan was created by the Coalition in 2022. These actions are carried out by our three Action Teams:

Healthy Beginnings Action Team
Supported Families Action Team
Early Childhood Workforce Development Action Team

Family Support Bus Partnership

Success By 6 launched a partnership program to bring early intervention services to families in our community.

In collaboration with the Bourbonnais 53 District, parent education and support programs through Jump Start (EasterSeals), Healthy Families (Aunt Martha’s) and First Taste (Kankakee District 111), the BESD 53 Family Support Bus has now run for two summers, offering free developmental screenings to children ages 5 and under.

2025 screening dates have not been determined!

Family Support Bus