February 27, 2006

SUCCESS BY 6® HONORS CHILDREN’S CHAMPIONS
Nomination Forms Now Available for Three First Time Awards

Lancaster, PA (February 27, 2006) -To commemorate Week of the Young Child (April 2-8), Success By 6 United Way of Lancaster County is honoring an area employer, a child care center and a family care home for their work in the healthy development of all young children.

To recognize successes publicly in this important field, Success By 6 is asking for the community’s assistance in identifying area businesses for their efforts with the following three awards:

The Carol D. Hess Children’s Champion Award for a Lancaster County employer who has shown the greatest sensitivity to the needs of their employees and community regarding children and child care. The employer also advocates for children, their families and teachers in the community. The Early Care and Learning Center Award for a quality child care center that has made the greatest strides in improving and/or maintaining the quality of care during the past two years and advocates for children and their families.

The Child Care Provider Award for a quality family or group child care home that has made the greatest strides in improving and/or maintaining quality of care during the past two years. Additionally, this child care provider is an advocate for children and their families. Entry forms for all three awards are available at United Way of Lancaster County and on its website, www.uwlanc.org. All nominations must be postmarked by Friday, March 10, 2006.

Award winners and nominees will be honored April 5 at Franklin & Marshall College. The ceremony’s program will feature Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute, a Manhattan-based non-profit organization that conducts research on the changing family, workforce and community.

The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Its purpose is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

For more information, please call Pixie Berman, Director of Success by 6, at 394-0731.

About Success by 6®: To promote the healthy development of all children through age 8, United Way of Lancaster County spearheaded the creation of a local Success By 6 initiative. Joining United Way in its work are nearly 100 volunteers representing 50 organizations, thousands of individual United Way donors and institutional donors, the Heinz Endowments, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

To view invitation and nomination forms, please click here.