We focus on early childhood development because we know that the earliest years of a child’s life are crucial to life-long success. One well-known study is the Perry Preschool Project, which launched in the 1960s to see if high-quality preschool would lead to higher IQ scores. While the children's IQ...
A story of compassion has been making the rounds on the internet this month, as an airline passenger showed kindness to a boy with autism traveling alone for the first time. Seven-year-old Landon Bjornson was flying solo from Las Vegas to Portland to visit his dad. Landon has high-functioning autism and...
Father’s Day is a time to celebrate the important role that dads play in their children's lives. For a long time, fathers were seen as “secondary” parents, while mothers stereotypically handled most nurturing and parenting duties. But parenting research and shifted gender expectations have led to a growing appreciation for...
The Educare Arizona, Southwest Human Development and Balsz School District families were saddened to learn about the passing of John Whiteman. John had an enormous impact on early childhood education in Arizona and on the well-being of children in our state as a whole. John was an advocate for ensuring...
Kids love the freedom of summer break — no school, no homework, more playtime! But all that energy coming back home can be stressful for parents. Don’t worry — there are plenty of fun, engaging activities you can do with your children this summer! Here are some of our favorites: Go...
Southwest Human Development, Arizona's largest nonprofit dedicated to early childhood development, has hired Jeanette Ramos as the agency's new chief financial officer and Kecia Blackson, JD, MS, as its vice president of Family Support Services. “We are thrilled to welcome Jeanette and Kecia to our agency,” said Ginger Ward, chief executive...
Educare Arizona, home to one of Southwest Human Development's Early Head Start and Head Start programs, will benefit from the Red Nose Day campaign on May 23. Red Nose Day is a national fundraising campaign started by the nonprofit Comic Relief that focuses on ending child poverty by funding programs...
Local restaurants and businesses are encouraging their customers to support early childhood literacy during the month of May through Southwest Human Development’s virtual book drive, Grow A Reader. The campaign aims to provide books for children in low-income communities. According to a Scholastic Access to Books report, the average child has...
Networking group provides for-profit companies with the tools, connections and support needed to increase community engagement One need not work for a nonprofit to make a notable impact in the surrounding community. That’s the sentiment behind a new initiative aimed at helping professionals at for-profit companies give back to the...
Young children aren't always the most cooperative reading partners. With limited language skills, shorter attention spans and often unbridled energy, family reading time can difficult at first, but it's worth the effort! Reading with your child at least 15 minutes a day helps lay the foundation for a lifelong love...