Arizona nonprofit to lead Maricopa County child safety coalition

PHOENIX — An Arizona nonprofit organization will now lead a local coalition that aims to prevent children from being accidentally injured.

Child Crisis Arizona, a statewide nonprofit focused on creating safe environments for children, took over as the lead agency for Safe Kids of Maricopa County last week.

Safe Kids of Maricopa County educates parents and caregivers on the importance of safety around children.

They offer services such as the county’s only emergency children’s shelter, counseling, early education, foster care and adoption services and parenting classes and workshops.

“At the time we took on Safe Kids of Maricopa County, our community was in a very different place,” Max Porter, interim director of Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said in an April 30 statement.

“Today, we have many nonprofits serving our families and youth who have the ability to leverage more resources to best support issues such as childhood injury prevention.”

Child Crisis Arizona will provide a full-time staffer to manage the coalition, board and program activities, a press release said.

“We are excited about adding the Safe Kids program to our family education program offerings,” Child Crisis Arizona CEO Torrie Taj said in a statement.

“We hope this program and the information it provides will help prevent childhood injuries and deaths in our community.”

Maricopa County Department of Public Health served as the lead agency for the coalition for more than 20 years.

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