10-year FTF volunteers<\/a> from different regions throughout Arizona. Each profile is followed by a complete list of the members in that regional area who have served for 10 years. Regardless of their location or affiliations, these individuals share one common trait: they are passionate about improving the lives of young children in their communities. They are true champions for children.<\/p>\nPlease read about FTF Phoenix North Regional Council member Connie Robinson:<\/strong><\/p>\nConnie Robinson knows that success in the board room doesn\u2019t start in the classroom; it starts in the hospital room.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren who have access to high quality experiences starting at birth are going to be more successful in school, and that really impacts their options in terms of employment and long-term success,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
She should know; she has spent more than 20 years as a human resources executive and consultant.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids who are successful from the start are not just more knowledgeable; they have the skills that are going to make them more viable job candidates because they are more well-rounded,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Early childhood impacts the current workforce, too, she said. \u201cBusinesses that support working parents through policies like family leave, child care and health benefits not only have a more stable workforce, they have more productive employees,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of expertise Robinson brings to her work as the business representative on the FTF Phoenix North Regional Partnership Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not always obvious for people to see how the lack of access to resources starting at a young age impacts a child\u2019s opportunities, but it really does,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that we continue to build on efforts like First Things First.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson said she was drawn to First Things First because of the organization\u2019s mission to expand opportunities for all young children in Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet; there are never enough resources, and there are communities where we still need to build more trust. And the early childhood system faces the same challenges as others when to comes to ensuring cultural responsivity in its programs,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
Robinson sees her service on the regional council as an opportunity to be a voice for her community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe diversity of our members gives everyone a seat at the table; it allows us to provide services to individuals and communities we can reach now, but also gives us the platform from which to continue advocating for continuous improvement and innovation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After 10 years, including two terms as vice chair of her council, Robinson has seen improvement in the services available in communities and in efforts to reach those most at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing the progress is really rewarding; it\u2019s what keeps many of us committed to the work of First Things First,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen kids are healthy and whole; when they know they matter; when parents know that they have the right tools in order to support and prepare their children better, when kids are being fed and educated \u2013 the script changes; their perspective on life is completely altered,\u201d Robinson continued. \u201cSometimes, it\u2019s hard to explain to decision-makers the enormity of the impact these opportunities can have in communities where young children don\u2019t have access to them, but we must keep trying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the business community, in particular, can have great impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses are looking for ways to incentivize employees, to give them better work-life balance and build a culture of support,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cThat can start with better supporting families \u2013 the ones who work for them, and the ones that are raising the workforce of tomorrow. We can pilot innovative approaches and make the case for expansion. That\u2019s how we build the economy and the state we all want.\u201d<\/p>\n
10 years of service
\nFTF Phoenix Regional\u00a0 Area<\/h1>\n
Gila River Indian Community Region<\/p>\n
Dale Enos<\/p>\n
Priscilla Foote<\/p>\n
Melissa Madrid<\/p>\n
Phoenix North Region<\/p>\n
Connie Robinson<\/p>\n
Phoenix South Region<\/p>\n
Dr. Patricia Merk<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[97,106,157],"class_list":["post-17656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-az-communities","tag-champion","tag-phoenix-north","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Executive knows early childhood is serious business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Executive knows early childhood is serious business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AZFTF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AZFTF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Escrito por\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"First Things First\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/e39a7129e89628e3afb0f72e634bd376\"},\"headline\":\"Executive knows early childhood is serious business\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":697,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png\",\"keywords\":[\"AZ communities\",\"champion\",\"Phoenix North\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Uncategorized\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\",\"name\":\"Executive knows early childhood is serious business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png\",\"width\":750,\"height\":393},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Executive knows early childhood is serious business\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"First Things First\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/e39a7129e89628e3afb0f72e634bd376\",\"name\":\"First Things First\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/993dfe78f2fcdb32757e5a1c5e08ee0189ecf2c12f8abacf9a64352f0ddeff84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/993dfe78f2fcdb32757e5a1c5e08ee0189ecf2c12f8abacf9a64352f0ddeff84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"First Things First\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/firstthingsfirst.org\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Executive knows early childhood is serious business","description":"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/","og_locale":"es_ES","og_type":"article","og_title":"Executive knows early childhood is serious business","og_description":"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/","og_site_name":"First Things First","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","article_published_time":"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"First Things First","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AZFTF","twitter_site":"@AZFTF","twitter_misc":{"Escrito por":"First Things First","Tiempo de lectura":"3 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/"},"author":{"name":"First Things First","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/e39a7129e89628e3afb0f72e634bd376"},"headline":"Executive knows early childhood is serious business","datePublished":"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/"},"wordCount":697,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png","keywords":["AZ communities","champion","Phoenix North"],"articleSection":["Uncategorized"],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/","name":"Executive knows early childhood is serious business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png","datePublished":"2018-11-21T19:12:02+00:00","dateModified":"2018-11-21T19:12:03+00:00","description":"First Things First celebrates the commitment of nearly 50 regional partnership council members who have served on a council for 10 years.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Connie_Robinson.png","width":750,"height":393},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/2018\/11\/executive-knows-early-childhood-is-serious-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Executive knows early childhood is serious business"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/","name":"First Things First","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#organization","name":"First Things First","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/firstthingsfirst_card_gray.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"First Things First"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AZFirstThingsFirst\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AZFTF","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/azfirstthingsfirst\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/first-things-first","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/FTFArizona"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/e39a7129e89628e3afb0f72e634bd376","name":"First Things First","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/993dfe78f2fcdb32757e5a1c5e08ee0189ecf2c12f8abacf9a64352f0ddeff84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/993dfe78f2fcdb32757e5a1c5e08ee0189ecf2c12f8abacf9a64352f0ddeff84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"First Things First"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/firstthingsfirst.org"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17656"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17686,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17656\/revisions\/17686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ftf-stg.magnetry.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}