The Eloy City Council met on Monday, June 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the City Council Chambers. The meeting included a scheduled presentation on early childhood development, reports from the mayor and city manager, approval of consent agenda items, and adoption of resolutions regarding sanitation rates and the acquisition of the Eloy Housing Authority building.
Okay, but we do have a scheduled public appearance, don't we? At this time, I'd like to ask the people from First Things First presentation on health and development of young children in Arizona. Come up, state your name. And welcome to the city of Eloy. Oh boy. Okay. Thank you, Mayor Sutton. Thank you, council members, for letting us speak to you tonight. My name is Katrina DeVinny. I am the Panell Regional Director for First Things First. And like I told somebody as we came in, we are not the good news people, but we are the important news people. So I'm gonna go through a little bit about FTF, who we are, how we're funded, all of that, just to give anyone who's not familiar a little bit of a background. So our picture or vision for Arizona is one in which all Arizona children are healthy and ready to succeed in school and life. Here's first things first mission and vision. Our goal is to partner with the community and organizations to better support families and children and therefore strengthen our community. I keep hitting the wrong button. First things first was created in 2006. Their first funding plan cycle was in 2008. We are funded by tobacco tax revenue that is shared with the general fund. So first things first is the funding source. We give our money to our grants and partners, and then they perform whatever service it is out to children. So what that looks like here in Penal County, uh, we have a $5.2 million budget per year. Um we have an 11-person council that is made up of volunteers that decide where that funding is going. We're in the third year, we're on fiscal years, so we just uh July will start our new fiscal year, state fiscal year 26. Um state fiscal year 2027 will be the last year of the funding cycle, and then we start a new one in 2028. So with that funding here in Penal, we fund uh hearing and vision screening, dental screening, developmental screenings. All these services are free and have nothing to do with income. Uh parent education, our fund van for out of the Apache Junction Library that travels all around the county doing parenting education classes. If there's something more specific that a family needs help with or support, we do have a home visitation program that will come into the home if that's not comfortable meeting the community, but that one-on-one support for a family. Um and then we do have our signature program, Quality First, that tries to raise the quality of care in child care centers. And then we do put a large amount of money into scholarships that allow access to those quality programs. So that's the good news. That's all the good work we're doing in Penal County. Um, and this is why. Um early childhood impacts a lifetime. It can affect everything. Uh kindergarten readiness, third grade reading scores, all the way through workforce readiness. And when a child starts behind, they often stay behind. And I have one of those. Um, he's he started behind. We didn't realize we thought he was rambunctious and spirited. Uh no. So we didn't have him diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician until in between first grade and second grade, and it was a real catch-up to try to get him on track and tracking developmentally with his peers. I can report he just turned 16 and is tracking very well, but it took a lot of hard work, so I know what this what early childhood means. But we do have a shared vision, I think, for Eloy. Eloy's always been the town that when I talk about it to other people. I've been working in early childhood since 2011 in Penal. I it's it's the community town. It's the family town. It's the town that cares about its people, its citizens.