For Families

PEEPs' eligibility framework is designed to support families with 3­- or 4­-year­ old children (and 5­-year ­olds not in kindergarten) with a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

If you need information about how to receive financial assistance and/or finding a high ­quality preschool for your child, please call Child Care Resource & Referral’s (CCR&R) Child Care Information Line at 1­800­308­9000, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon. You may also conduct an online search via CCR&R’s website at www.azccrr.com .

For Providers

If you are a preschool provider and would like more information about PEEPs, please email PEEPs@pima.gov

FY 2022 / 2023 Annual Report

FY 2021 / 2022 Annual Report

Developments - April 2021

Dear friends and supporters of The Preschool Promise,
Here’s why we we’re all still working on the local level, and why your advocacy matters. Keep up the great work,
Penelope

Q: With all the Federal money coming to Arizona, why do we need local investment in early childhood care and education?

Affordable: Local dollars are critically needed to make high quality care and preschool affordable for poor and working families in Pima County. Federal money will not provide direct assistance.

Even before the pandemic, fewer than 20% of Pima County children attended high quality early childhood education. Now there are even fewer, though the actual number is not known.

The cost of education and care remains the greatest barrier; that is, most families can’t afford it. Pima County, municipalities, public schools, employers, and nonprofit and philanthropic organizations are joining together provide scholarships locally to meet the present and future need.

We need local dollars to actually allow our children to afford high quality early childhood education. The federal dollars are a one-time infusion, so they will be best used to build infrastructure and capacity.

Q: How will the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 help early childhood education?

Arizona will receive nearly $1 billion from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to help rebuild and expand our child care and early childhood education system.

Accessible: The Federal funds will also help to ensure that there are high quality preschool spots for every child whose family wishes them to attend. The near-billion dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act is desperately needed to help child care providers who were forced out of business — and those who kept their doors open while operating at a financial loss — during the pandemic. We don’t yet know for sure how many local providers have closed in the past year, but those in the field report it’s a significant percentage. Nationally, 1 in 6 jobs in the childcare sector have been lost since the pandemic began, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy.

High-Quality: Arizona has already received $248 million for COVID relief, and that’s being used, in part, to increase the per-child amount DES gives to child care providers to cover at least some tuition costs so lower-income families can pay less. (That subsidy is nowhere near the full cost of a high-quality preschool program and usually requires a copay that parents can’t afford.)

The Arizona Early Childhood Alliance’s alignment committee is making recommendations to the Governor, Legislature, and Arizona Department of Economic Security on how best to spend the federal money, which can be used to cover rent, payroll, facility maintenance and upgrades, personal protective equipment and other pandemic-related costs.

A: Local Support for High-Quality Early Childhood Education is the long-term answer.

Pima County children need high-quality early education, and our community needs safe, high quality care to ensure our economic recovery and economic future. It’s for our children and our community—today and tomorrow—and only we can make that happen.

Developments - June 2020

Dear friends and supporters of early education and the Preschool Promise,

This is an urgent letter about an emergency in early childhood education and childcare.

Two weeks ago I wrote to you about planning to expand early childhood education after COVID-19.

Today I am writing about saving the schools and childcare centers that we have right now.

Many parents are working from home and many have lost their jobs. In both cases, they are not sending their children to childcare. Childcare centers and schools are closing daily as a result of loss of enrollment and tuition. The State has committed to continue the limited subsidies and scholarships they provide, so long as centers keep their doors open, but for many—if not most—centers, this is not enough revenue to keep them in operation. Many will close, never to open again.

A few centers are struggling to stay open. They are serving the children of those who serve us—the children of essential workers like doctors, nurses, grocery workers and trash collectors. These centers are facing new demands and new expenses, such as extra cleaning personnel and extra sanitation products to make sure the children stay safe and healthy. The cleaning products in particular are hard to come by. This is where we all come in. If you have supplies you can donate, we will make sure the centers get them. Here’s the list of what is needed:

1. Non-Latex Gloves
2. Bleach
3. Hand Sanitizers
4. Disinfectant Wipes
4. Paper Products

If you know any suppliers who have these critical items in stock, please contact Stephen Sparks, or by phone 602-772-5153

Please help. The future of early childhood education is unknown, but we do know what must be done today. Many of us are at home, wondering how we can contribute during this crisis: this is one easy way. Stay healthy, stay calm, stay at home if you can.

Read the Pima County Administration Response to LaVonne Douville, Executive Vice President, United Way of Tucson and S. AZ draft proposal to expand access to High Quality Preschool in Pima County.

This communication is very encouraging and it looks like there is a path forward for a regional approach to funding affordable access to High Quality Preschool!

It is important to note that funding from Pima County for this coming fiscal year, July 1, 2020 is contingent upon cities and towns in Pima County also contributing to the program. This is a community-wide, multi-sector braided funding concept. YOUR advocacy is essential as we proceed through the governmental budgeting processes.

No Small Matter Documentary Screening

WE ARE CURRENTLY ATTEMPTING TO OBTAIN SPECIAL PERMISSION TO HOST NO SMALL MATTERS SCREENINGS AS A WEBINAR EVENT. STAY TUNED TO THIS SPACE. WE WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN THE NEXT EVENT WILL BE HELD ELECTRONICALLY.

No Small Matter is the first feature documentary to explore the most overlooked, underestimated, and powerful force for good in America today: early childhood education. Through poignant stories and surprising humor, the film lays out the overwhelming evidence for the importance of the first five years, and reveals how our failure to act on that evidence has resulted in an everyday crisis for American families, and a slow motion catastrophe for the country.