Caring, Healthy Families and Youth

 Definition: Includes opportunities, services, and conditions that support Tucson's families and youth

What the community said:

• "Help people become better parents."
• "Help families take care of children."
• "We need to build the strength of our families to support youth - then perhaps there will be no more need to join gangs in order to ‘belong'".
• "Children are our future. Fund education, after school programs, and parent training."
• "Meet needs of young people - many are alienated and destructive. Create positive ways to be part of the community."

City Department/Office Support for this Goal:

• Citizen and Neighborhood Services – administering youth employment programs and working with the Police Department and the National Guard in anti-crime and anti-drug awareness programs
• Environmental Management – educating elementary school age youth on environmental issues and introducing them to environmental programs that they can participate in
• Intergovernmental Relations – working with Pima County, the Cities of Phoenix and Mesa, and others to secure the continuation of state and federal funds for local summer youth employment programs
• Office of the Public Defender – referring clients to counseling services and social service agencies in order to deal with the causes of criminal activity
• City Attorney – handling all child abuse, child neglect, aggravated assault on a child, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor cases, protecting victims' (children) rights, referring defendants to parenting classes and counseling, and monitoring situations to avert re-occurrences
• City Court – protecting domestic violence victims by having magistrates available 24-hours a day to issue orders of protection and promoting family harmony through domestic violence intervention screening and counseling
• Police – coordinating with schools to identify and work with at-risk youth and administering the School Resource Officer program
• Fire – promoting numerous childhood safety and injury prevention programs, such as drowning prevention and fire safety
• Community Services – partnering with non-profit agencies to share resources and promote healthy families and youth through a wide range of services
• Library – administering several programs that help youth, including Project LIFT (Literacy Involves Families Together), and collaborating with community agencies and other city and county departments for a variety of services
• Parks and Recreation – offering numerous opportunities for families to have fun, relax, and participate in activities, such as golfing and zoo activities

Key Indicators of Progress:

1. Volunteerism among youth The amount of time that people do volunteer work indicates a level of investment and concern for the community. This is measured by asking people in a survey how many hours they volunteer in the community.

Source: Resident survey

2. Time spent with family People need time to relax, to have fun, and to spend time with family. This is a basic building block of healthy families and has become increasingly difficult in today's world. Surveying people about how much time they spend with family and involved with their children will help to determine how healthy our families are.

Source: Resident survey

3. Percentage of employees with health benefits Full benefits including private health insurance help to insure that families are well taken care. As this indicator increases, we know that people are getting better, quality jobs and families have health care available to them. This can be measured through a citizen survey asking people whether they have health care coverage through their job.

Source: Resident survey

4. Incidence of referrals to Child Protective Services Child abuse is a very clear indication that families are unhealthy. If this indicator improves (rates decrease) we can be hopeful that families are more stable, parents are providing nurturing environments for their children, and have places to turn in times of difficulty and crisis. This data can be collected through the responsible state agency.

Source: Department of Economic Security – Child Protective Services keeps statistics on number of child abuse cases reported annually (July 1 – June 30).

In 1997-98 in Pima County, 7,607 cases were reported, up from 7,325 cases in 1996-97.

5. Level of participation by parents in schools Participation of parents in their children's lives is a critical element of healthy families. Schools(K-12) report attendance at school functions including parent-conferences, open house, PTO meetings. Volunteer hours are tracked by schools as well.

Staff is researching the best way to collect and report the data for this Indicator.

What YOU Can Do

• Encourage your child to participate in after school programs
• Respect your child and teach them to respect others
• Be a mentor
• Take a parenting class; read parenting books and articles
• Appreciate your spouse
• Have fun with your family

Featured Project for this goal indicator.