Ladye Franklin, sitting patiently among a group of preschoolers, shows them how to create “flowers” out of construction paper, coffee filters and multicolored tufts.
For children, this activity is helpful in developing motor skills. But it serves another purpose for Franklin, who is the School Readiness Specialist for United Way of Central Alabama’s Success By 6 program. It gives her an opportunity to model educational activities for teachers.
“We have to look at childcare for what it is. Sometimes it’s a babysitting service, and sometimes it’s a school where children go to learn,” said Franklin, who has spent more than 40 years in childcare and early education. “We want to push it more in the educational direction.”
The Success By 6 program was developed in 2003 with the goal of ensuring that children are prepared before they enter kindergarten. The strategy is to focus on individual preschool classrooms and to turn basic childcare into high-quality early learning. Almost every day, Franklin visits classrooms to collaborate on activities and identify needs in the learning environment
Sometimes those needs are for educational materials or children’s tables and chairs, which Success By 6 can furnish. But Franklin also provides small-group training sessions and works directly with teachers on best practices. And each student in a Success By 6 classroom receives 15 age-appropriate books every year.
Tonya Wilson, Director of New Beginning Child Development Center in Birmingham, first became affiliated with Success By 6 in 2011. At that time, the school was operating out of a small house in the Kingston neighborhood.
Wilson said that Success By 6 and the relationship with Franklin and other partners helped advance her center to where it is today. Now located in a large portion of a church in Roebuck Springs, New Beginning serves more than 100 children.
“Even when she didn’t have to be, Ladye was involved in my center,” Wilson said. “Additionally, all the [other] partnerships she helped build — we now form one big happy family. And she makes sure we stay in contact with each other.”
Wilson said that any childcare directors looking to “take their center to the next level” would benefit from Success By 6.
Before joining United Way and becoming such a vital part of Success By 6, Franklin had built a career on opening childcare programs for large organizations, including UWCA partner agency Children’s of Alabama. By joining the United Way program, Franklin found a way to maximize her reach as an expert.
“I wanted to serve the greatest number of children in the neediest communities, so this was a perfect match for me,” Franklin said. “I still love going into the centers, working hands on with the kids and also training the teachers.”
For more information about United Way’s work in early childhood development and education, click here.
Learn How United Way of Central Alabama supports
Early Childhood Development & Education
Studies show that 90% of brain development occurs during a child’s first five years of life. On average across our six counties, however, we have fewer than five childcare centers for every 1,000 children within that age group.
We work to address this disparity and improve outcomes for children by increasing the capacity of childcare centers, working directly with business owners and professionals to improve the quality of childcare, teaching parenting classes, providing stable housing for families experiencing homelessness and much more.