Putting a Face on Funding: Regional Councils Listen and Plan

Every year, First Things First volunteer regional partnership council members are charged with deciding what to do with millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for early childhood. They do this through a comprehensive strategic planning process. This includes a review of data collected from grantee program reports as well as a community needs and assets report about the state of children birth to five in their region. Many regional councils also reach out to community stakeholders—both those providing early childhood services and those partaking of First Things First services.

In this video, First Things First South Phoenix Regional Director, Jonathan Gonzales and Regional Council Chairman, James Washington help us understand how public engagement contributes to the annual planning process. We listen to parents from Southeast Maricopa who give witness about how the programs have changed the way they interact with their children and what this has done for their child's development.

Amanda Freeman excitedly shares how My Child's Ready at the Child Crisis Center (http://www.childcrisis.org/mychildsready/) gave her the resources she was seeking to be her child's first and best teacher. Teen parents, Alex Burleson (with son, Carter) and Kaydee Kitchen (with daughter, Kenzie) enrolled in Teach Outreach Pregnancy Services (http://www.teenoutreachaz.org) proclaim their personal progress toward completing high school, getting jobs and being well on their way to caring for their children independently. Marissa and Roberto Fallas, with almost-walking baby Nirvana talk about how the home visitation program through Healthy Families has changed their entire outlook of what it means to be a family. Laveen stay-at-home mom, Elisa Morgan tells how she heard about a town hall through a child care provider's website. She decided to come to learn more about FTF and contribute her own ideas about what is important for young kids in her neighborhood.

Throughout the video, Dr. Julie Sallquist, parent representative on the First Things First SE Maricopa Regional Partnership Council explains how important listening to these many community voices is to the region's planning process. Julie's one year old son, Jake plays in the background reminding us that listening, planning and acting on behalf of Arizona's youngest kids is central to the mission of First Things First as we work together to prepare kids for kindergarten and beyond!

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