With their experience and long history they understand that parents and caregivers play a critical role in their children’s healthy development, learning and future success in school.”

George Adams, Scottsdale Charros

Raising a Reader

To improve the reading readiness of children at birth to first grade.

To promote a parent’s use of effective book-sharing practices.

To promote family literacy habits.

By Terrance Thornton
Twitter: @NVNEWSMAN

The children are our future --- and since 1912, the Arizona’s Children Association has been dedicated to ensuring all children have bright horizons in front of them.

The AzCA is a bona fide Arizona legacy organization founded at the turn of the 20th Century in Tucson, Arizona with a singular focus: To help children in need.
For more than a century, the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization has had a clear focus to help children:

• Cope with the realities of the foster care system and adoption process;
• Assist in behavioral health and trauma services for children in need;
• The preservation of the nuclear family and efforts to unify;
• Kinship services; and
• Family education support, education and transitional youth services.

For Paula Joseph, AzCA director of family education and support services, the AzCA is a staple of Arizona nonprofit history.

“An Arizona legacy, the agency was founded in Tucson in 1912 as Arizona’s Children Home Association, to care for homeless, neglected and dependent children,” she said. “As the needs of the children changed, the ACHA began developing services that extended beyond the residential program in Tucson, opening its first ‘branch’ in Yuma in 1915. In 1997, ACHA changed its name to Arizona’s Children Association.”

Today, Ms. Joseph, points out the AzCA is a part of all 14 Arizona counties and serves a staggering 40,000 children in need every year.

“Accredited by the Council on Accreditation and licensed by the Arizona Departments of behavioral Health and Child Safety, AzCA remains on the leading edge of child welfare and behavioral health issues in Arizona and beyond,” Ms. Joseph assures. “All programs are family focused, strength-based, culturally sensitive and outcome driven.”

For nearly 60 years, the Scottsdale Charros have been in constant pursuit of improving the lives of Scottsdale residents and all children while preserving the community’s ties to its western heritage.

For Scottsdale Charro George Adams, the AzCA is a vital effort throughout the Grand Canyon State.

“These types of services are so important in early development of children,” he said. “Educating families and strengthening their relationships with the children in their life is critical to their success.”

Furthermore, Mr. Adams points out every American child deserves a shot at the pursuit of happiness --- a common them between the Charros and the AzCA.

“They believe that every child deserves a permanent home that is safe and nurturing and they strive toward that goal,” he pointed out.

“All of their programs are family focused, strength-based, culturally sensitive and outcome driven. With their experience and long history they have an understanding that parents and caregivers play a critical role in their children’s healthy development, learning and future success in school.”

The Charro Foundation provided the AzCa with a $5,000 grant during this year’s grant cycle, which is meant to help young children find a love for reading early in their educational development.

“Early experiences reading with parents/caregivers delivers multiple benefits to children that impact them throughout their lives,” Mr. Adams said about the importance of the ability to understand the written word.

“Reading together at home from birth on supports brain development and early literacy skills. AZCA is hoping to reach families with children birth to 5-years-old by conducting the Raising A Reader workshops with the overall goal to engage parents and caregivers in a routine of book-sharing with their children, to foster healthy brain development, healthy relationships, love of reading, and the literacy skills critical for school success.”

The grant program

The program coined, “Raising a Reader” is focused on bringing the routine of book-sharing with parents and caregivers of children from as early as birth to foster healthy brain development, healthy relationships and a love of reading.

Officials at AzCA point out the focus of the program is three fold:

• To improve the reading readiness of children at birth to first grade.
• To promote a parent’s use of effective book-sharing practices.
• To promote family literacy habits.

Ms. Joseph contends all children deserve a chance to be a good reader.

“A child’s brain is wired to learn more quickly in the first six years of life, because babies are born with billions of active neurons, waiting to be stimulated to connect with one another and create learning pathways,” she said. “This sets the stage for a child’s capacity to learn throughout life.”

Within the Scottsdale Unified School District, Ms. Joseph points out the Raising a Reader program will be taught in three workshops over eight weeks.

“RAR will specifically target attracting low-income residents of Scottsdale, whose young children will attend Scottsdale Unified School District schools,” she explained of the program. “Highly trained staff will meet the needs of families in the Scottsdale area.”

About 9%, or just over 21,000 people, live below the poverty line in Scottsdale, which is defined as a gross annual income less than $21,954 for a family of four, according to the latest Census figures.

As of 2015, the population of Scottsdale is estimated at 234,495 ---which has grown 7,577 since 2010, Census figures show. In 2010 roughly 8%, or 18,759 people, of the population lived below the federal poverty line.

Go to ArizonasChildren.org.