Photo by Craig Fry/Yuma Sun. State Representative Lynn Pancrazi (center) and Arizona Senator Amanda Aguirre (right of Pancrazi), along with other community child resource advocates, accept a check of more than $5.3 million dollars from First Things First for the 2012 fiscal year. The funds will help children from birth to age five in the Yuma region have better access to early childhood education and health services.
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Yuma area gets more than $5 million from First Things First
October 08, 2010 7:40 PM
There's a proposition on the ballot this November that could wipe out funds Arizona voters approved to use for early childhood education.
But officials with the state group that funds projects for children age 0 to 5, First Things First, had Yuma on their minds Friday with the dedication and contribution of more than $5 million to the Yuma region.
“This check represents the on-going commitment of Arizona's voters to children in the west region,” said First Things First Executive Director Rhian Allvin. “These funds will ensure that more local kids arrive at kindergarten prepared to succeed.”
The funds come from an 80-cent tax on tobacco products - Arizona voters approved the measure in 2006 for the purpose of expanding or enhancing education and health services for kids 5 and younger.
Allvin said at the ceremony Friday morning that it is hard to say how much money could be left in the organization if it is swept by the Legislature later this year, but it could be around $413 million.
Accord to the ballot measure, any future money would be designated for children and health services.
The organization was not allowed to spend the money until 2008, and with the contribution Friday, it brings the total amount of money in Yuma County to more than $16.5 million in three years.
The money for fiscal year 2012, a total of $5,379,348, will go toward local programs such as “Choices for Teens,” which helps educate teens moms, a Parent Awareness Program and the First Things First Home Recruitment Program, where a case manager visits and works with parents and children in the home.
Rosalli Ramirez, the regional director for Child and Family Resources, said “there are no words to explain” the contribution - and what it means for the Yuma community.
Allvin said after 20 years of doing this kind of work, “(the Legislature) has never invested this way in kids.”
Though, as a state employee, she said workers at First Things First are not allowed to comment on the proposition, she said they are concerned about what would happen if the proposition passed.
She cited the past commitment of the voters - and with Arizona one of the first of its kind with the model for funding early childhood education, there are people other than Arizonans paying attention to this election.
“Other states are watching very closely.”
Stephanie A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@yumasun.com or 539-6857.
“This check represents the on-going commitment of Arizona's voters to children in the west region,” said First Things First Executive Director Rhian Allvin. “These funds will ensure that more local kids arrive at kindergarten prepared to succeed.”
The funds come from an 80-cent tax on tobacco products - Arizona voters approved the measure in 2006 for the purpose of expanding or enhancing education and health services for kids 5 and younger.
Allvin said at the ceremony Friday morning that it is hard to say how much money could be left in the organization if it is swept by the Legislature later this year, but it could be around $413 million.
Accord to the ballot measure, any future money would be designated for children and health services.
The organization was not allowed to spend the money until 2008, and with the contribution Friday, it brings the total amount of money in Yuma County to more than $16.5 million in three years.
The money for fiscal year 2012, a total of $5,379,348, will go toward local programs such as “Choices for Teens,” which helps educate teens moms, a Parent Awareness Program and the First Things First Home Recruitment Program, where a case manager visits and works with parents and children in the home.
Rosalli Ramirez, the regional director for Child and Family Resources, said “there are no words to explain” the contribution - and what it means for the Yuma community.
Allvin said after 20 years of doing this kind of work, “(the Legislature) has never invested this way in kids.”
Though, as a state employee, she said workers at First Things First are not allowed to comment on the proposition, she said they are concerned about what would happen if the proposition passed.
She cited the past commitment of the voters - and with Arizona one of the first of its kind with the model for funding early childhood education, there are people other than Arizonans paying attention to this election.
“Other states are watching very closely.”
Stephanie A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@yumasun.com or 539-6857.
