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Learning begins at birth, which is why our approach to education takes a cradle-to-career perspective.

Social interaction, pre-literacy skills and vocabulary development occur in the earliest years of a child’s life--an all-too-brief window for opportunity to establish and improve these skills. With the right programs and interventions, we can eliminate the achievement gap and learning disparities between high- and low-income families.

The Challenges

  • Connecticut has the widest achievement gap in the US between children from low-income households and their more affulent peers.
  • ALICE families often cannot afford accredited childcare, leading them to select an alternative that limits their child's school-readiness opportunities.
  • The biggest obstacle to literacy is the scarcity of books and appropriate reading material in the homes of ALICE families.

Every child deserves to start school with the same potential for success. UWWC puts resources towards programs, initiatives and collaboratives that promote strong literacy skills to foster life-long learning for all children.

Our Initiatives and Collaboratives