Note:  The ECPSPC and UWTSA do not endorse any childcare provider listed.  Information is provided for reference purposes only.

"Featured" Home Family Childcare Providers in Sahuarita/Green Valley:

What:              1.5 hour free Professional Development workshop on "Peer Networkikng/Idea Sharing"  

Who's Invited?  All early childcare professionals in South Pima County

When:             Wednesday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Where:            Sahuarita Unified School District's Early Childhood

Center.  For driving directions click here.

All participants will receive a certificate of completion and light refreshments will be available.

Register today:  email vfelty@unitedwaytucson.org or call 903-3922.  Thanks!  Se habla espanol.

What:  Regular monthly meeting for the South Pima Early Childhood Partnership of South Pima County 

Where:  Anamax Park, 17501 S. Camino de las Quintas, Sahuarita,85629 

For driving directions Click Here 

When:  Friday, April 8th from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Agenda: 

1.  Welcome/Introductions

2.  Member updates 

3.  Planning for the Celebrate Kids Festival on 4/23

4.  Sensory Park:  vote on new items to purchase with remaining budget

This is a brown bag lunch meeting. 

For more information, contact Vanessa Felty at 520-903-3922 or vfelty@unitedwaytucson.org. 

What:  Come interact with new Imagination Playground and Sensory Wall that is part of our project to create a safe and fun play area for all children with sensory special needs and their families. This project is made possible through funding from Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation, and the collaboration between the Town of Sahuarita and the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona's Early Childhood Partnership of South Pima County.

To view the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony featured on FOX news, Click Here. 

When:  Saturdays, 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Where:  Anamax Park, 17501 S. Camino de las Quintas, Sahuarita, AZ 85629

Driving Directions:   Click Here

For groups larger than 15, please call 903-3922 to make a reservation.  Ideal for special occassions such as birthday parties, too! :)   Preschool programs welcome to tour the play area throughout the week by appointment. 

For more information, including how to become a Sensory Partner, including participating in a FREE training to become a Playtime Associate Volunteer, please contact Vanessa Felty at vfelty@unitedwaytucson.org or 903-3922.

Dear Early Childhood Partner:

Did you know that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - an organization representing more than 3 million businesses nationwide - is a vocal advocate for early childhood education and its role in building a strong, enlightened workforce for America's economy?

Recently, the Chamber released a strategy paper: "Six Actions the Business Community Can Take" to support and improve early childhood education. They're using it as a clarion call, to urge local business leaders to pick up the cause of early childhood development.

As I reviewed the Chamber's suggestions, I was pleased and proud that - through its commitment to First Things First - Arizona is ahead of many other states in its efforts to ensure all young children begin kindergarten prepared to succeed.

The Chamber's six suggestions for improving early childhood education are:

1. Support a mixed provider delivery system. The Chamber urges that quality early childcare must be available from a variety of public, private and community sources. FTF's Quality First is helping more than 600 center and home-based child care providers statewide improve the quality of the educational services they provide to kids birth to 5. This includes curricula focused on early literacy, improving the professional skills of teachers working with the youngest children, and learning materials appropriate for young learners.
2. Encourage early learning system and K-12 alignment. Early learning serves kids best when its programs transition them smoothly into the lesson plans for kindergarten and grade school. FTF works closely with the Arizona Department of Education to ensure that the learning guidelines for Pre-K (ages 3-5) align with the K-12 curriculum taught in Arizona's schools. And, First Things First also secured American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding to align infant and toddler learning guidelines (ages 0-3) with Pre-K instruction. These guidelines will help ensure that kids arrive at kindergarten with the tools they need to succeed.
3. Promote early learning policies as a part of the economic development agenda. There is still a lingering public perception that early education development and our struggling economy exist in different worlds. They don't. A strengthened, empowered early learning system is the only long-term solution to our future economic viability. At FTF, we work every day to build awareness among all Arizonans on the importance of early childhood. Staff reach out to parents, educators, service providers, and community leaders on what they can do to prepare our kids, and our state, for success. Last month, we hosted a policy forum for state lawmakers and business leaders where Michael Petro with the Committee for Economic Development, demonstrated that America's economic destiny is seeded in the first five years of life.
4. Encourage the inclusion of early childhood data in the statewide longitudinal data system. Information fuels improvement. Accurate data lets us know what is working in early childhood development, and how to connect our best practices with the rest of the K-12 education system. As a member of the Governor's P-20 commission subcommittee, FTF reviews the Arizona Department of Education's longitudinal data systems. We have worked with ADE to identify the best methods for including our data on children's kindergarten readiness, so that information on Arizona's kids begins at birth and allows analysis all the way through high school, higher education, and the workforce. The ADE data system is currently being restructured, and FTF's kindergarten readiness data is still being collected. So, there are many steps to go on this front. But, we have laid the groundwork for a data exchange that can help us identify the impact of high quality early education on children's lives.
5. Encourage your state to adopt a Quality Rating Information System (QRIS). It's an economic reality: most Arizona children live in homes where their parents work. Earlier, I mentioned how FTF is helping more than 600 early education settings improve the quality of their services. Through Quality First, FTF is working with more than 60 providers to test a voluntary quality rating system that, in the future, will give parents vital information so that they can make the best educational choices for their young kids.
6. Encourage business organizations and networks to adopt a policy position in support of public investments for effective, high quality early education programs. The 2006 vote to establish First Things First - and the resounding public call to sustain it last November - tell us that our citizens and communities are realizing that the job of getting kids ready for school starts the day they're born. Nationally, Arizona appears to be ahead of the curve. But a wide gulf still exists between the education our youngest children deserve and the one they receive. Our biggest ally on this front? You. As a champion for kids birth to 5, your voice, your work, and your actions can help more people every day discover how Arizona's future success is undeniably linked to the tools we give all our children today.

With warm regards,

Rhian Allvin
Executive Director

When:      2 - 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 29

Where:    John & Doris Norton School Family and Consumer Sciences,

McClelland Park, Room 105,

650 N. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721

(Reception to follow in lobby)

See attached document for more information: 

Immigrants Raising Children: Free event on 4/29

Please RSVP to Erica Ruegg (see below) by Friday, April 22nd. 

Erica Ruegg

Administrative Secretary

Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families

John & Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences

ericaruegg@email.arizona.edu

Office (520) 621-8067

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Do you live in Sahuarita?

If yes, we would like your input for our Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant, so we can make it easier for all neighbors to make better choices when it comes to food and exercise. Your responses are confidential and anonymous, so your name need not appear on the survey.  Click here and when completed, please email to: Linda Duran at lduran@unitedwaytucson.org

Thank you! :)

For more information about PRO Neighborhoods, click here. 

The KARE Family Center offers a variety of workshops and groups for Grandparents, Relatives, and Others raising children not born to them.  To learn more, call 520-323-4476 or visit http://www.arizonaschildren.org/karecenter.htm.

• Financial assistance for childcare business application fees
• Professional and educational oportunities to collaborate with other child care providers
• Marketing assistance for your business
• Benefits for existing providers also!


Save the Date:

The second annual rural childcare providers conference for South Pima early childcare professionals will take place on Saturday, May 14 from 7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson.  Stay tuned for Registration Forms!   

• Pregnancy support and education
• Child development education
• Support for pregnant and/or parenting teen mothers/fathers
• Parenting classes
• Parent and child play-based learning groups
• Parent support groups
• Support for families with medically fragile children
• Assistance with identifying and supporting children with developmental delays
• Connections to community resources your family may need