Desert Messenger

WHAT'S INSIDE 2 Salome High 2024 Graduates 3 Blood Drive 4 RV Tenants meeting 4 Parker Tube Float 5 Run For The Wall 5 Stutter Help & Museum Happenings 6 Editorial 7 The Salvation Army Updates 8 Letters to the Editor 9 QES Students of the Month 9 Home Visitation 10 Gardening with Dennis 11 Ribbon Cutting 12 Community Health Workers Program 13 AZ BallotTrax 15 Expenditure Limits 15 I-10 Construction updates 16 State Park Trails Survey 16 Vi-Sa-Wen GFWC Women's Club 17 Food Bank 18 Meet the Candidates 19 Around Town 20 Puzzle 21 Diabetes Workshop 22 Classifi eds & Paul Winer Cartoon 23 Photos 25-40 SPECIAL SECTION ONLINE! DesertMessenger.com "Quartzsite's FREE Community Paper" 928-916-4235 May 15, 2024 VOL. 20 # 370 Alwa y s FREE! N�� �� ��� 20 t h YEAR! SEE FIRST THINGS FIRST PAGE 18 Community Leaders Meet with First Things First CEO ����� | S������ R��� G�����-B��� By Shanana Rain Golden-Bear Tuesday, April 30th a group of local community leaders met at Arizona Western College Parker Learning Center to learn about the current state of the child care crisis in Arizona, how businesses are affected and its implications on the workforce. First Things First (FTF) Chief Executive Offi cer Melinda Gulick presented information about the importance of early learning for children in a pre- sentation titled, "Arizona works when child care works." First Things First is Arizona's early childhood agency, committed to the healthy development and learning of young children from birth to age 5. On November 7, 2006, Arizonans made a historic deci- sion on behalf of our state's young children. By ma- jority vote, they passed Proposition 203, a citizen's initiative to fund quality early childhood develop- ment and health programs for kids birth to age 5, before kindergarten. Voters backed that commit- ment with an 80-cent per pack increase on tobacco products, so that funding for early childhood servic- es would not be at the mercy of economic and politi- cal winds. Gulick explained how child care plays an important role in Arizona's economy. "The state's economic de- velopment starts with early childhood development. If we don't have a stable workforce and stable pro- viders, no matter whether is a regulated center or a home, day care, childcare center or family friends and neighbors solution, if we don't have that infra- structure, Arizonans can't go to work," said Gulick. Gulick shared research by the Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman shows that for every one dollar invested in early childhood can yield return of up to $16 dollars of the lifetime of that person. Mountain Quail Cafe Ribbon Cutting ����� | M����� T��������� SEE RIBBON CUTTING PAGE 11

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