Phoenix museum subsidy aids some low-income kids

By Eugene Scott
 
The Republic | azcentral.com
 
Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:43 PM
 
Admission to some Phoenix museums can top $10 per child. And while that may be affordable for some families, some low-income parents consider the price out of reach.

To better prepare children from low-income families for kindergarten, Phoenix launched the Phoenix Great Start Pilot Program on Friday. The program will grant free admittance to several Phoenix museums and cultural attractions to the families of incoming kindergartners in the Balsz Elementary School District. If successful, city officials plan to expand the program to other Phoenix school districts.

“We’ve put incredible challenges on our schools, and we expect more and more from them,” Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said. “A child’s earliest experiences in life are important for their long-term well-being. We know that.”

When families enroll their children in kindergarten in the Balsz district, staffers will give them the Passport to Culture and Education. The passport will allow the children and their families to visit the Phoenix Zoo, Arizona Science Center, Pueblo Grande Museum, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum and Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix for free.

Four- and 5-year-olds from wealthier families often visit these places, organizers said, preparing them to excel in the classroom and beyond. But many low-income children have never been outside of their neighborhoods, and the lack of exposure is evident in the classroom, said Jeffrey Smith, superintendent of the Balsz district, in east Phoenix.

“A child’s world is only as big as their experiences and opportunities to expand their world,” he said. “Many times, these kids never leave their neighborhoods to see how people who are not poor live.”

Leaders expect the families of 400 children to benefit and plan to incorporate information from the museums into the kindergarten curriculum.

Great Start also provides parents with language and literacy information that can better prepare their children for the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills now expected of kindergartners, leaders said.

“It’s important for our children to be equipped with the right tools to start school,” said Chevy Humphrey, CEO of the Arizona Science Center.

Since the economic downturn, more museums have launched programs to make their facilities more accessible, said Dewey Blanton, spokesman for the American Alliance of Museums, a Washington, D.C.-based museum-advocacy organization.

About 37 percent of the 17,500 museums in the U.S. are free, Blanton said, and 92 percent of U.S. museums, including zoo and aquariums, have free days.

“The median admission price for a U.S. museum is $7,” he said. “There are many museums around the country that are higher than $7, and there are many that are nothing at all, but still, $7 is better than a movie ticket.”

City and district leaders launched the program with Balsz after collaborating with the district previously and because of the school’s proximity to many of the sites.

District officials are developing a system to measure how often families use the passport and how to keep them engaged in Phoenix’s museums once the child starts kindergarten. Once the kindergarten year starts, the free access will end.

“It’s not about just giving things to people,” Smith said. “But you open the door so that they can see the value of it.”

Salt River Project, Valley of the Sun United Way and Southwest Human Development are the program’s corporate sponsors.