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Health & Safety of Neighborhoods

Building a Better Neighborhood.

Sustainable change in neighborhoods is best accomplished through the mobilization of the citizens of that community. By engaging all sectors of the population in a community-wide effort to address health, social and environmental issues, neighborhoods become healthier and safer.

A safe community is dependent on healthy neighborhoods that provide not only quality living conditions, but also opportunities for learning and developing capacity, safety programs and services and strong civic engagement.

Valley of the Sun United Way is improving the health and safety of neighborhoods across the Phoenix metro area by:

  • Targeting high-poverty neighborhoods through the FireStar program – a collaborative neighborhood development project that engages education, faith communities, nonprofits, business and government to address issues identified by local residents
  • Maximizing the awareness and utilization of community resources to decrease the number of non-emergent 911 calls and other preventable tragedies – including drowning and house fire fatalities
  • Empowering additional neighborhoods already engaged in community improvement activity by providing additional support and resources
  • Increasing services by investing in target communities of high need and advocating for increases in publicly funded services in those areas


Our Goals for 2012

  • Increase community health and safety in five targeted FireStar neighborhoods by 25%
  • Increase the number of neighborhoods engaged in improving their community by 10 percentage points
  • Increase the number of individuals who access community services and resources by 10 percentage points


Our Vision for 2020

Safe communities are dependent upon healthy neighborhoods with quality living conditions, strong civic engagement and effective health and human service programs. Our 2020 goal is to improve the health and safety of targeted neighborhoods by 25%.

Click here to see our results

Valley of the Sun United Way receives funding from First Things First to provide resources in communities to create healthy and safe neighborhoods. First Things First (FTF), approved by Arizona voters, works to ensure that our youngest children have acccess to quality early childhood experiences so they start school healthy and ready to succeed. Across the state, FTF regional partnership councils - in collaboration with local leaders - identify the educational and health needs of children from birth through age 5 in their communities and fund strategies to address those needs.