You chose to provide a short written description (up to 300 words) explaining how your organization makes an impact in the community.Paws for Youth serves children ages 6–18 enrolled in Title I schools or connected to nonprofits and behavioral health facilities that support vulnerable youth. These children navigate daily life shaped by poverty, family stress, and shrinking opportunities for connection. The biological impact of prolonged stress makes it difficult to manage emotions and behaviors, creating real barriers to learning and forming healthy relationships.
Paws for Youth serves children across 15 cities in the Phoenix metro and greater Tucson, spanning 27 school districts and reaching every corner of Maricopa, Pima, and Cochise counties. We serve urban Title I schools, youth-serving nonprofits, and behavioral health facilities, as well as rural communities where access to support services is scarce. With 101 active programming partner sites statewide, our reach extends across 72 zip codes, ensuring that geography is never a barrier to a child receiving care.
ABC Program pairs a therapy dog and registered handler with three individual first through third grade students weekly for 12 to 14 weeks. Children read aloud to the therapy animal while the handler offers gentle encouragement, building reading confidence and motivation in a low-pressure, joyful setting. Each child receives 20 minutes of focused, individualized attention. This program is in elementary schools.
Paws for Resilience brings a therapy team into small groups of up to eight youth for nine bi-weekly sessions. Structured, animal-centered activities help children practice healthy relationships, coping strategies, teamwork, emotional awareness, kindness, and resilience. Skills that stick because they’re learned through experience, not instruction. This program is delivered in schools, nonprofits, and behavioral health settings.
Community Support Visits deploy therapy teams into emergency shelters, crisis programs, behavioral health facilities, and community organizations for visits of up to two hours.
Last year we served 16,000 youth at no cost to our Title I schools and partner agencies.
Social media handles LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/paws-for-youth/, Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/pawsforyouthaz/ Face bookhttps://www.facebook.com/pawsforyouth,
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@pawsforyouth