Local politicians, representatives of various nonprofit organizations, and concerned citizens agree the community needs to focus its attention on supporting early childhood education.
The consensus was formed Wednesday at the Yuma County Main Library during a well-attended public forum hosted by Arizona Town Hall, an independent nonprofit membership organization that identifies critical issues facing the state.
During the interactive presentation and discussion, audience members worked together to create recommendations and actions designed to improve early education in southwestern Arizona.
"Quality early education has a direct impact on our economy and our quality of life," participants said in a joint statement formulated during the event. "Because of its critical importance to all aspects of our community’s future, we need to support it with a variety of actions."
Deb Hanney, Head Start director for the Western Arizona Council of Governments (WACOG), said reaching and educating children through preschool education programs is essential.
"If you wait until they are 5, it is too late. We need to get the word out to families, and to parents, that it is important to read to your children, to tell stories to your children, to work with them, to have conversations with them. Working with our youngest children is key. We’ve got to start now."
According to experts cited by Arizona Town Hall, about 90 percent of a child’s brain develops before they enter kindergarten, and quality early experiences lay the foundation for a lifetime of success.
Alarmingly, in 2013 the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual Kids Count report ranked Arizona 47th in the nation in terms of well-being and educational outcomes for children. This low ranking prompted Arizona Town Hall to host Wednesday's forum in order to pursue possible solutions to align, coordinate and integrate resources and programs that make a difference for Arizona's children and families.
"Every day I am out in the community, I meet families and parents who say ‘I want the best for my child,'" said Rudy Ortiz, Yuma Regional Partnership Council, First Things First. "It takes a community -- a village -- to raise a child. Where does it start? Not every child” has the opportunity to participate in early childhood education in Yuma. “How do we get resources to be able to invest in our children?"
One major issue facing parents, and their children by extension, is the excessive unemployment rate in the Yuma area.
“Here in our community, we have the highest unemployment rate of the country during the summer -- some areas of our community up to 70 percent," noted Emma Torres, executive director for Campesinos Sin Fronteras.
According to statistics cited by Arizona Town Hall President Tara Jackson, over the past decade, the socioeconomic status of a child's parents have played an increasing role in whether or not children are able to attend college and obtain a degree -- even if they are good students capable of succeeding.
"It is very much related to our economy," Jackson said.
Unemployment may make it difficult for parents to afford a preschool education or spend time educating their children on their own because they are busy trying to scrounge up money for food, rent and utilities.
"We try to involve the parents and they are trying to find jobs or just find a way to bring food to the table on a daily basis," Torres said. "They don’t have a lot of time to think about” sitting down to read to their child. “I think we need to make our politicians and our officials aware of this. What is it they are doing to bring better job opportunities for our parents? They want to work. They don’t want to be unemployed."
Even those who have jobs may find it difficult to connect with educators or other educational resources during traditional hours because they don't want to miss any work for fear of being fired.
"We’ve touched a lot of lives and our experience has been that parent involvement certainly is the key to being successful," said Brian Babiars, WACOG executive director. "To get to the parents at times when they are available, we need to think differently about doing things in the evening, or doing things on a Saturday, whenever they might be available."
Finally, if children are able to enroll in an early childhood education program, they need to attend to be able to experience the positive effects, Babiars noted.
"The key to it is attendance. The children can be enrolled in our program (but) it means nothing if they don’t get there."
For more information about Wednesday's forum, send an email to townhall@aztownhall.org or call at 602-252-9600. For more information about Arizona Town Hall, go online to http://aztownhall.org/.
