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Welcome to Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children
Mark your calendar! The 2009 SAzAEYC Conference, The Joy of Learning: Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Action, is September 26, 2009. The keynote speaker is Sue Bredekamp, author, co-author and editor of many books and publications about early childhood development, issues and appropriate practices in education and child care. "Developmentally Appropriate Practice (in Early Childhood Programs, Serving Children from Birth through Age 8)" is her most recent book, published in 2009.
Mission
The Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children serves young children, their families and stakeholders in the community through:
- Advocacy and leadership
- High quality early care and education
- Professional development and collaboration
Supporting a strong, early foundation for all children, which can last a lifetime.
SAzAEYC has over 345 members in the Southern Arizona area including Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima counties. We have 18 members on our Board of Directors and one paid Association Manager.
Some of our proudest accomplishments are:
- Hosting an annual conference for Southern Arizona professionals who serve young children.
- Ongoing collaboration with other agencies to advocate for young children.
- Recognition of early childhood leaders in our community at an Annual Brunch.
- Continually working to offer professional development opportunities to early childhood teachers to improve their student’s lives as well as investigating the feasibility of “mini-seminars” to help centers through the newly revised accreditation process.
- Sponsoring a listserv to keep each other informed of important events in our community and maintaining a dialogue among colleagues.
- Advocate for high quality early childhood education programs, environments for young children.
- Advocate for increasing support and recognition for professionals who work with young children.
- Support the Tucson Children’s Project (TCP) and Building Optimal Nurturing and Development (BOND), action advocacy groups of SAzAEYC.