Family Support Alliance
Southern Arizona Family Support Alliance
The Family Support Alliance was formed through the family support committee work of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona’s First Focus on Kids Impact Council. The committee recognizes the critical need to support parents in their key role to develop every aspect of a child’s growth and learning.
In September of 2007, the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona sent a survey to families with young children, birth to five, in Pima County. The response from parents indicated one of the major areas of need was parent information and support. Research also documents the need for parents to have access to health and wellness information and consultation in order to detect developmental delays or other health related concerns. Home visitation and parent education programs that use best practices and employ family support specialists or nurses can help parents develop holistic, responsive, and well informed parenting skills and increase the bond between parent and child.
In order to meet the growing need for parent education and support in the home, First Focus on Kids (FFK), determined the need to support and expand home visitation and parent education and support programs in all areas of Pima County in an effort to increase availability to any family who wants to participate. The existing home visitation and parent education programs provide a continuum of quality, research-based, curriculum driven services for voluntary participation of parents but not nearly enough programs exist to meet the needs of Pima County families or current programs do not have the capacity to serve all the families.
The Southern Arizona Family Support Alliance was funded by each of the First Things First (FTF) Regional Partnership Councils in Pima County. The Alliance is led by United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona and includes 25 partner agencies, 11 of which are receiving pass-thru FTF grant money from United Way. Each funded partner will offer services to a target population in specified geographic regions in the County. Click here to see the Family Support Alliance Organizational Chart as a pdf file. The Alliance has put together an FSA Partner Guide which briefly describes each organization. This document will change as we add new partners and get more information about each partner.
Goals of the Family Support Alliance include:
Services tailored to meet the unique needs and interests of families that will vary by level of intensity and length of service.
Families will be able to enter services at multiple entry points, and will be able to move from more intensive to less intensive services as the child progresses.
Increase membership to include more home visitation programs.
Eliminate gaps in services so geographically isolated families are reached and other at-risk populations are served.
Ensure that families are triaged to the appropriate program for their level of need.
Ensure that services are not being duplicated, i.e., making sure one family isn’t being served by two programs.
Explore areas in which new services/programs may be needed and try to eliminate barriers to getting these services in place for families.
Ensure that families receive the appropriate referrals to other services needed.
Increase participation in AHCCCS and KidsCare.
Collaborate with professional development for staff.
Educate the community about services available for families.
The Family Support Alliance meets on a monthly basis, the second Wednesday of every month at 10:00 a.m. For additional information, please contact Ally Baehr, Family Support Director, at 520.903.3954 or abaehr@unitedwaytucson.org.
As a result of this Alliance, families will be able to get the supports they need to help their children enter school eager to learn and ready to succeed.
First Things First (FTF), approved by Arizona voters, works to ensure that our youngest children have access to quality early childhood experiences so they will start school healthy and ready to succeed. Across the state, FTF regional partnership councils – in collaboration with local leaders – identify the educational and health needs of children from birth through age 5 in their community and fund strategies to address those needs. For more information about First Things First call (602) 771-5100, email ftf@azftf.gov, or visit their website at www.azftf.gov.
