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Survey: Child-care needs pressing
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By Philip Franchine, Sahuarita Sun
Parents in the Sahuarita area are paying between $140 and $1,600 a month and are driving a round trip average of 20 miles a day for child care.
They want affordable infant care and overwhelmingly would attend parenting classes if they were available for free.
Those are some of the child care concerns brought to light by a recent survey of parents in Southern Pima County.
The survey was conducted in June by the Early Childhood Partnership of Southern Pima County, (ECPSPC), an affiliate of United Way of Tucson.
The agency is connected to the First Things First council that will decide how some $3 million in state funds are spent locally on early child care needs starting next year under a voter-approved measure that provides tobacco tax funds for the next 10 years.
Recently appointed to the local First Things First council are Sahuarita Intermediate School Principal and Town Council member Scott Downs as well as Town Parks and Recreation Commissioner Rosanna Gabald—n.
Vanessa Felty, who is program manager for ECPSPC in Green Valley, said there were 107 total responses collected from the survey. Among highlights drawn from the data:
74.8 percent of parents would attend a free educational workshop or parenting class in the community if offered;
84.1 percent of the parents surveyed do not receive a subsidy for child care;
parents pay on average from $140 per month forpart-time care of one child to $1,624 a month for full-time child care in a household with multiple young children;
the most commonly cited current early child care issues in southern Pima County reflected the need for more affordable quality early options, especially affordable infant care, and
the average number of miles driven by parents to child care was 10 miles each way, with the range being between 0.5 miles and 30 miles.
“The survey will help the ECPSPC identify what assets we have in the community with regard to early child care and education, and where the gaps are. With funding available from the state early next year through a Request for Proposal process (RFP), now is a critical time for communities to come up with strategies to fill the gap areas and improve community conditions for early child care education and health.
“For Southern Pima County alone, it is estimated that more than $3 million dollars will be distributed starting in 2009 and continuing for the following 10 years,” Felty said.
More data are needed and Felty hopes to hear from families residing in Ajo, Arivaca, Green Valley, Sahuarita, Sasabe, Sells, Sonoita, Topawa, Vail, Amado, Three Points and some parts of southern and eastern Tucson.
The survey is to be posted on the Town of Sahuarita Web site, http://www.ci.sahuarita.az.us/ for several months.
In the meantime is it posted at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=T7z2uYONXYU9XEW8W9adfw_3d_3d.
In 2006, Arizona voters approved Proposition 203, which added an 80-cent tax to the cost of a pack of cigarettes to create a revenue stream for First Things First with the goal of improving early childhood development and health services to all Arizona children.
Information about First Things First can be found at the Web site www.azecdh.gov.
Gabald—n said “As a member of the FTF regional council, I will strive to be an effective advocate for the Sahuarita and Green Valley area. Working with the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation has opened my eyes to the urgent needs in our community; top of my concerns is that our children entering school must be healthy and ready to succeed.
“The FTF will need public involvement and I want to encourage regional cooperation. Let us not ever forget that while our children are only a small percent of our population, they are 100 percent of our future. It is painfully clear that there is less and less money, yet the needs in our community are growing. I believe that investing in our children is the most important investment we can do,” Gabald—n said.
Felty said “A child’s brain develops to more than 90 percent of its adult size by age 3. For every $1 invested in quality early childhood programs, there is a long-term benefit of $7 in public savings by increasing the likelihood that children will stay in school and become employed, and by reducing dependence on welfare and arrests for criminal activity. It is important to give all children a quality early childhood experience.”
pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738
They want affordable infant care and overwhelmingly would attend parenting classes if they were available for free.
Those are some of the child care concerns brought to light by a recent survey of parents in Southern Pima County.
The survey was conducted in June by the Early Childhood Partnership of Southern Pima County, (ECPSPC), an affiliate of United Way of Tucson.
The agency is connected to the First Things First council that will decide how some $3 million in state funds are spent locally on early child care needs starting next year under a voter-approved measure that provides tobacco tax funds for the next 10 years.
Recently appointed to the local First Things First council are Sahuarita Intermediate School Principal and Town Council member Scott Downs as well as Town Parks and Recreation Commissioner Rosanna Gabald—n.
The council must start marking recommendations to a state agency by Sept. 1, said Diane Umstead, First Things First regional partnership manager for South Pima.
Vanessa Felty, who is program manager for ECPSPC in Green Valley, said there were 107 total responses collected from the survey. Among highlights drawn from the data:
“The survey will help the ECPSPC identify what assets we have in the community with regard to early child care and education, and where the gaps are. With funding available from the state early next year through a Request for Proposal process (RFP), now is a critical time for communities to come up with strategies to fill the gap areas and improve community conditions for early child care education and health.
“For Southern Pima County alone, it is estimated that more than $3 million dollars will be distributed starting in 2009 and continuing for the following 10 years,” Felty said.
More data are needed and Felty hopes to hear from families residing in Ajo, Arivaca, Green Valley, Sahuarita, Sasabe, Sells, Sonoita, Topawa, Vail, Amado, Three Points and some parts of southern and eastern Tucson.
The survey is to be posted on the Town of Sahuarita Web site, http://www.ci.sahuarita.az.us/ for several months.
In the meantime is it posted at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=T7z2uYONXYU9XEW8W9adfw_3d_3d.
In 2006, Arizona voters approved Proposition 203, which added an 80-cent tax to the cost of a pack of cigarettes to create a revenue stream for First Things First with the goal of improving early childhood development and health services to all Arizona children.
Information about First Things First can be found at the Web site www.azecdh.gov.
Gabald—n said “As a member of the FTF regional council, I will strive to be an effective advocate for the Sahuarita and Green Valley area. Working with the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation has opened my eyes to the urgent needs in our community; top of my concerns is that our children entering school must be healthy and ready to succeed.
“The FTF will need public involvement and I want to encourage regional cooperation. Let us not ever forget that while our children are only a small percent of our population, they are 100 percent of our future. It is painfully clear that there is less and less money, yet the needs in our community are growing. I believe that investing in our children is the most important investment we can do,” Gabald—n said.
Felty said “A child’s brain develops to more than 90 percent of its adult size by age 3. For every $1 invested in quality early childhood programs, there is a long-term benefit of $7 in public savings by increasing the likelihood that children will stay in school and become employed, and by reducing dependence on welfare and arrests for criminal activity. It is important to give all children a quality early childhood experience.”
pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738
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