Offers early literacy programs including parenting and caregiver programs, educational activities for children and families, and community health education and prevention. Distributes diapers, wipes, and formula. Also offers family resource center, family support service, resource and referral connections, and a holiday assistance program.

AZCEND Family Resource Center - Chandler | AZCEND Family Resource Center - Chandler

Programs that offer opportunities for non-English-speaking and limited-English-speaking adults to learn listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with an emphasis on developing the level of communication competence that is essential for adults who are living in a setting in which English is the primary language. Also included are programs that provide English language instruction for younger people.

English as a Second Language

Programs that promote pre-literacy and language development skills in children from birth to age five with the objective of preparing them to read. Program activities are both educational and social and focus on helping participants develop oral language skills, expand their vocabulary, develop the concept of a word, have exposure to printed words and connect them to stories, develop phonological and phoneme awareness (sounds associated with letters and words), and recognize letters of the alphabet and connect them to words. Specific activities that promote early literacy development include reading aloud, summarizing stories read, conversations and dialogue, learning new words, exposure to books, rhyming and singing, imitating sounds, identifying syllables, writing and naming letters, attaching sounds to letters, and recognizing words. Counting and elementary math may also be incorporated. Programs may be formal or informal, and may include parent participation. Classes are often held at schools, churches, libraries and community recreation centers.

Early Literacy Development Programs

Programs, generally supported by donations from the community, that provide gifts such as clothing, toys and other items to help low income individuals and families, older adults, hospital patients and others celebrate any of the annual holidays.

Holiday Gifts/Toys

Programs that teach skills that enable parents to deal constructively and consistently with a broad spectrum of child rearing problems which may include sibling rivalry; school behavior and performance; poor self-esteem; shyness; drug use; sexual promiscuity; and the whole range of negative, acting-out behaviors including whining, temper tantrums, disobedience, insolence and destructiveness. Some parenting skills development programs utilize a step-by-step approach for managing specific problems and may incorporate application at home of techniques that were discussed and practiced in the classroom setting. Other programs may offer participatory family workshops which provide opportunities for parents and children to learn and practice methods for dealing with one another under the guidance of a trained facilitator. Most training programs teach the parent a particular way of talking and relating to their children that reinforces positive behaviors and communication and decreases negative behaviors while supporting the development of a relationship that is built on fairness, mutual caring and respect.

Parenting Skills Classes

Programs that provide regularly scheduled opportunities for parents to participate in a wide variety of recreational, arts and cultural activities with their youngsters. The experience provides a means for developing close family relationships at a stage in the child's life when quality time with their mother or father is essential for healthy development, and exposure to music, storytelling and similar pastimes can stir a child's imagination and spark their creativity. Other programs may focus on reading, games and early learning activities.

Parent/Child Activity Groups

Programs that provide a wide variety of social services that are designed to support the healthy development of families, improve family interaction skills and help fragile families to resolve their problems at a pre-crisis stage before they become unmanageable.  Services may be center-based or provided on an outreach basis to families who are initially reluctant to seek support and generally target the specific needs of a particular community.  Included may be self-sufficiency programs which help families break the cycle of poverty by addressing the barriers to self-sufficiency; early child development and school success programs; programs which address the needs of teen parents; programs which target parents at risk for becoming abusive; programs for families with children who have special developmental needs and programs that focus on the maternal and child health care needs of first-time, expectant women whose babies are at high risk for low birth weight and infant mortality.

Family Resource Centers/Outreach

Offers early literacy programs including parenting and caregiver programs, educational activities for children and families, and community health education and prevention. Distributes diapers, wipes, and formula. Also offers family support service, resource and referral connections, and a holiday assistance program.

AZCEND Family Resource Center - Chandler | AZCEND Family Resource Center - Chandler

AZCEND Family Resource Center - Gilbert | AZCEND Family Resource Center - Gilbert