Our community’s children must be prepared to enter school ready to learn and succeed, and be engaged in safe, productive after-school activities.

In partnership with the Governor, your local United Way has developed a Five-Star Quality Rating System for child care, a pilot program for the state of Arizona.

Our First Focus on Kids Impact Council created a tool for parents, providers and policymakers to measure the quality of childcare centers and identify areas for improvement.

The Diamond Family through the Diamond Foundation, spearheaded by local developer Donald Diamond, made a $1 million commitment in matching funds to the United Way to improve early childhood education in Southern Arizona. “Our family recognizes the need for strong early childhood education services in our community. We decided to partner with the United Way because of its proven success with First Focus on Kids programs throughout Southern Arizona. We want to make an impact on the lives of children,” said Helaine Levy, Executive Director of the Diamond Foundation.

First Focus on Kids is working with nonprofit agency partners to increase the number of youth in safe, nurturing places after school. Through the Youth Development Coalition, more than 30 administrators, service providers, police and agency representatives are advocating within the community and in legislative processes boosting community resources and volunteerism, and improving the quality of programs through training and support.

Documents available for download:

ELOA Final Report Focus on Quality (QRS) August 2006 [PDF 1.19 MB]

FFK -Professional Development Continuum- Early Childhood Professionals
Pima County

Early Childhood Development:Economic Development with a High Public Return - a presentation given by Rob Grunewald, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in February 2008 at our You're It Business Breakfast.

For more information about First Focus on Kids, please contact:
LaVonne Douville
Vice President, Community Development
ldouville@unitedwaytucson.org
520.903.9000 ext. 430