In April 2009, the City of Avondale, AZ, formed a unique partnership with Care1st Health Plan Arizona to open the Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center.  Located in a 6,000-plus-square-foot facility that had previously served as Avondale’s municipal library, the building now serves as a diversified human services clearinghouse and non-profit incubator, providing non-profit organizations with free use of office space, conference rooms, phones, copiers and internet access.

The Southwest Valley of Maricopa County has been historically underserved in terms of resources offered by non-profit groups.  By providing a low-cost way for non-profits to move and/or expand to the area, the City of Avondale has brought critical health and human services to area residents in a “one-stop-shop setting,” during an economic recession when such services are needed most. Additionally, the agencies housed in the Resource Center are using the facility as a springboard to grow and provide services further west.  Care1st, which paid for improvements to the city-owned building, underwrites the staff and operating costs. For its approximately $400,000 investment, the Care1st name is on the building, giving the company the opportunity to increase its name recognition. First Things First, Arizona’s early childhood care and education initiative, is also a major source of funding with an approximate investment of $300,000.  

The Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center serves residents of the southwestern part of Maricopa County (Southwest Valley) and does not restrict services to Avondale residents.  As the Community Action Program and provider of safety net services for Avondale in addition to the neighboring communities of Goodyear and Litchfield Park, Avondale’s Neighborhood and Family Services Department has long sought to strengthen the capacity of non-profits and their human services.    The ability to provide the Resource Center as an incubator has improved the City’s ability to meet the soaring needs of residents in these tough economic times.  

Over 3,000 residents come into the Center monthly in need of services.  Resource Center staff is bilingual.  The Resource Center, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., offers the following free services: homebuyer counseling and education; nutritional education and assistance through the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program; breastfeeding classes and support;  application support services for Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System’s (AHCCCS) medical insurance,

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and cash assistance; English and literacy tutoring for adults;  support for pregnant and parenting teenagers;  job search and career counseling; legal aid services;  behavioral counseling services; GED and ESL classes; training and support for in-home child care providers, parenting classes for parents with children from birth through five years; emergency baby boxes; early literacy and parenting classes for parents and caregivers of children under five years; financial literacy education; gardening classes; in-home family support and parenting education services; and focused support groups for victims of domestic abuse; victims of sexual abuse and exploitation; adults who suffer from depression or bipolar disorder; caregivers for Alzheimer’s patients;  and grandparents raising grandchildren.  

By providing area residents access to a wide variety of social services in one location, the Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center offers a holistic approach at improving quality of life.   Frequently a family or an individual comes into the Resource Center for a single need (of symptomatic of other underlying needs) and leaves with a virtual shopping bag of services.  Those receiving assistance in turn, send their friends and extended family into the Resource Center.   The Resource Center offers intergenerational services in a family-friendly environment to address the needs of all ages, from birth to old age.  The Resource Center distributes emergency baby boxes for needy families with children age newborn to five year old.  When families come into the Resource Center to pick up the emergency box filled with diapers, wipes, and age appropriate nutritious food, they meet with a Resource Center staff person to ensure they are receiving all the services available at the Resource Center.    While a mother waits for her WIC appointment, her child or children can participate in “Story Time”—part of the early literacy programming at the Center.  Two designated play areas are set aside for children to play while their  parents or caregivers receive services.   

Gardening classes are taught at the Center on weekends and Spanish classes have been popular for Avondale employees and senior citizens.   The Resource Center offers the Maricopa County’s Women Together for Health program to provide support and practical learning for women to begin making positive changes to increase physical exercise, improve their diets, and to reduce stress.   Additionally, the Resource Center is now offering Medicare benefits counseling and offering classes for seniors who are transported to the Resource Center from the City of Avondale’s Senior Center.

One of the busiest agencies housed in the Resource Center is Southwest Valley Literacy Association (SWVL).  Southwest Valley Literacy Association is a pro-literacy, 20-year old organization whose sole mission to teach adults English and literacy.  All of SWVL’s approximately one hundred tutors are volunteers.  Adults receive English and literacy tutoring literally around the clock at the Resource Center.   

Measurable results are critical to both the City of Avondale and to Care1st Health Plan.  Therefore, monthly reports are monitored for numbers of residents receiving benefits and any additional services area residents might need that are not currently provided at the Resource Center.  Since it opened, the Resource Center’s numbers of walk-in and telephone referrals have increased monthly.  The Resource Center’s popularity and reputation with the surrounding communities is growing.    

This public private venture between the City of Avondale and Care1st Health Plan Arizona has proven to be so successful that Avondale recently extended its contract with Care1st for the fourth year.  The numbers speak for themselves.  The Resource Center opened in April 2009.  In May of 2009, 112 people came into the Resource Center for assistance, compared to May of 2010, when more than 2,500 people came into the center for assistance.  That is not counting those coming into the Center for GED, ESL, parenting classes, behavioral counseling and support groups.  

Today, the Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center is a model for duplication by other communities. In 2011, Care1st opened its second facility in the Town of Gila Bend, located in a remote section of Maricopa County. By providing area residents access to much needed health and social services in one convenient location, the Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center has improved the lives and health of families in the region.

Project Leader/Primary Contact:
Gina Montes, Director, City of Avondale Neighborhood and Family Services
Phone Number: 623-333-2727; gmontes@avondale.org

Care1st Avondale Resource and Housing Center
328 West Western Avenue
Avondale, Arizona 85323