Ms. Anne Gamble, Dr. Sarah Sandefur, and Dr. Amye Warren have received a second year of funding from the U.S. Department of Education to continue UTC's Early SUCCESS (Strategies for Urban Child Care, Education, Support, and Services) program. This two-year, $1.2 million grant is one of only nine programs funded nationwide in fiscal year 2003.

Noting the high numbers of children in Chattanooga’s low-income communities who enter kindergarten without basic literary skills, Project Co-Directors—Ms. Gamble, Dr. Sandefur, and Dr. Warren—have collaborated with eight local partners to establish Early SUCCESS. The Early SUCCESS team will train 200 early childhood educators, providing expertise in early language and literacy, social skills development, and classroom management strategies for young children. The Project Co-Directors will also work in community centers, empowering parents with literacy instruction and strategies they can use to foster their children’s literacy development.

Although the project will have an immediate impact among local low-income families, it will ultimately reach a broader audience: Dr. Warren will conduct a rigorous research program to evaluate the efficacy of this innovative program, establishing the initiative as a research-based model for other communities nation-wide.

Congratulations to Ms. Gamble, Dr. Sandefur, and Dr. Warren! The strategies developed in this early childhood initiative will improve literacy development locally and situate UTC as a national leader in literacy education and research.