NORTHWEST MARICOPA REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL
The First Things First Northwest Maricopa Region spans the diverse rural and urban communities of the Northwest Valley. This expansive region includes Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, the Sun Cities, Morristown, Aguila, El Mirage, Waddell, Wickenburg, Wittman and Youngtown.
Serving the over 52,000 children ages 5 and under in our region, the 11 dedicated volunteer members of the Northwest Maricopa Regional Council have identified how best to use funds allocated annually -- $8.4 million in 2012 -- to ensure our young children start school healthy and ready to succeed.
Priorities include:
• Improving the quality of early care and education. In our region, 35 child care centers and homes are enrolled in Quality First, which provides support, funding and education to help them better serve the children in their care. Over 250 children are able to attend high-quality preschool programs in both public schools and private settings with preschool scholarships.
• Partnering with families with young children through home visitation services, injury prevention programs and one-stop family resource centers.
• Finally, parents learn the importance of play and how to best help their young children build early literacy skills through popular developmental playgroups and family literacy workshops held throughout the region.
Serving each community’s distinct needs is a major goal of First Things First—reaching out to children and families in ways that will best offer support so that all Arizona children can start school ready to learn, be successful and reach their full potential.