Family Resource Centers
What is a
Family Resource Center?
Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are welcoming community hubs where families can build connections, access support, and find the resources they need-whether they’re facing a challenge or looking to strengthen their family’s well-being. Each FRC is shaped by its community, offering what local families need.
At their core, FRCs strengthen families by:
- Building a sense of community
- Partnering with families to prepare children for school success
- Connecting families to support BEFORE crises occurs
- Build Protective Factors
Arizona is home to over 60 FRCs, including 47 funded by First Things First, which served more than 21,000 families in 2024.
Why are we focused on this?
FRCs are a proven model for strengthening families and preventing crises. Research shows they:
PROVIDE a $4.93 social return for every dollar invested
REDUCE child abuse cases by 63% and out-of-home placements by 50%
Pediatricians, schools, and social service providers frequently refer families to FRCs because they offer practical, effective, engaging parenting support.
When parents are supported, children are safer.
Our Work with FRCs
Arizona Family Resource Network
PCAAZ coordinates the Arizona Family Resource Network (AZFRN), Arizona’s professional network of FRCs. The AZFRN provides a network of peer support, and produces professional development opportunities for FRC professionals, including the annual FRC Summit.
The AZFRN is connected to the National Family Support Network (NFSN), a national organization providing support and technical assistance to 41 state FRC networks, representing over 3,000 FRCs across the nation. All members of the AZFRN are trained in the NFSN’s Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening and Support.
Find Your Village - A Documentary
Because every family deserves a village.
Find Your Village is a short documentary that explores what can happen when families have real connection and community support, and how Family Resource Centers across Arizona are making that possible.
Created through a collaboration between School of HipHop, Prevent Child Abuse Arizona, and the lived expert leaders of Thriving Families Safer Children Arizona, and with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the film centers the voices of families with lived experience of child protection systems. It asks a powerful question: what if we shifted our culture from one that focuses on surveillance to one that focuses on support?
When families are supported, children thrive. By connecting parents to Family Resource Centers, we make sure families have what they need, when they need it, in their own communities, before a crisis happens.
Our Priorities
Right now, most FRCs in Arizona focus on serving families with children under age five. FRCs are also currently concentrated in urban areas; eleven of Arizona’s fifteen counties lack an FRC.
Together, we’re working to:
Sustain and support Arizona's current network of FRCs.
Expand FRCs to serve families with children from birth to age 17.
Ensure every county in Arizona has at least one FRC.
Check Out More of Our Work
Download our 2025 FRC System Explainer to see how this vision will make family support accessible to every community in Arizona.
The 2025 Family Resource Centers Needs Assessment explores how Arizona can expand FRCs to reach families with children of all ages, ensuring that every family has access to the resources and relationships that help them thrive.
In 2024, PCAAZ published a Landscape Study report on the current landscape of FRCs in Arizona, which we used to further our strategy in creating a statewide system of FRCs.
The 2025 report Access for All: Expanding Family Resource Centers to Rural Arizona outlines opportunities for establishing FRCs in rural counties so that families throughout Arizona have access to what they need in their own communities.
A National Movement
FRCs are gaining national recognition as a key strategy for strengthening families. States like Kentucky, New Jersey, and Vermont have made FRCs a standard resource available to all families. Arizona can do the same.
The Path Forward
Together, we can ensure every Arizona family has the support they need to be safe, stable, and strong.
When families thrive, Arizona thrives. By investing in FRCs, we build stronger, more connected communities where every family has a trusted place to turn for support.