lasts a lifetime

early learning

lasts a lifetime.

s t a r t sta r t s m a r ts

m a r t

united

way’s

start

Children are more likely to succeed in school when they’ve had the right kind of care and education before they start school. In fact, 85 percent of a child’s capacity to learn is established by age five. Because early learning is so important, it makes sense to help parents and caregivers prepare young children for kindergarten and lifelong learning.

The Start Smart Initiative, supported by United Way of Central Ohio, Franklin County, Action for Children, OCCRRA and the Children’s Hunger Alliance, boosts the quality and capacity of early learning. This kind of investment early on gives children the right start for success in school and life.

Success starts at an early age Being in a quality early learning setting dramatically increases a child’s capacity to learn. And the frequency and quality of words that a child hears during the first three years of life are important in shaping language development.

Positive stimulation and early learning experiences give a child a distinct advantage—greater language development, mathematical ability, thinking and attention skills and fewer behavior problems in kindergarten.

The need in our community • An estimated 22.52 percent of children in Ohio under age 5 live in poverty.

• Children in professional families hear an average of 2,153 words per hour, while children in families on public assistance hear an average of 616 words per hour.

• More than 30 percent of Ohio children entering kindergarten are not ready and need some kind of intervention.

t smart Start early. Finish strong.

Research shows that, when children start school with the skills necessary for learning, they are more likely to do well in school, continue their education after graduating from high school, and become productive employees.

Young children have an enormous capacity to learn and develop brainpower, yet many parents wonder if they are doing the right things, or doing enough to prepare their children. Start Smart gives them the tools they need.

The results of Early Learning

United Way’s Start Smart collaborates with more than 50 local health and human service organizations to improve quality of early care and education, expand training, provide information and advocate for public policy and funding.

• With Start Smart’s help, 99 local early learning centers have earned national accreditation, raising the accreditation rate in our community to 20 percent—more than twice the national average.

• More children have access to quality care—there are 900 more spaces in local family care homes and early learning centers—thanks to donors’ investments.

• More than 15,000 children and their parents have received the early learning help they need since Start Smart began in 1999.

• Born Learning , the parent education component of Start Smart, has distributed more than 37,000 information kits through corportate, government and media partners.

These kits offer information on the growth and development of young children and provide ways for parents to turn everyday moments into learning moments.

You can make a difference. we hope to raise $116,000 to benefit children from birth - 5 years and their families. $60,000 to create 10 new quality early learning spaces $25,000 to purchase books for our “Book Banks” $20,000 for play groups and parent education for high risk families $10,000 to create a calendar of community wide children’s events and weekly activity suggestions $1,000 per classroom for a quiet reading area where children can read to each other or by themselves

If you believe, as we do, that every child deserves the best start possible, then please invest in United Way’s Start Smart initiative.

Our children represent our community’s future and we owe them the boost they need to become self-supporting, educated, productive citizens. Your investment will touch the lives of thousands of children and their families.

Join us. Invest your money, use your voice, volunteer your time to give our children the best possible start in life.

360 South Third Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215-5485 • Tel 614.222.2700 Fax 614.224.5435 TTY 614.227.2710