The Santa Cruz Regional Partnership Council of First Things First (FTF) wants to help teen parents give their children a good start in life, especially in Rio Rico, where one in six births is to a teenager.

FTF invited governmental agencies and school districts to help develop a regional family resource center with locations in Rio Rico and Nogales. Those candidates will deliver a brief presentation of their proposals in a public meeting at 2 p.m. on Feb. 3 in the choral room at Rio Rico High School, 590 Camino Lito Galindo.

Rio Rico has a higher rate of teen pregnancy than the state of Arizona, said Teresa Morales de Phillips, regional coordinator in Santa Cruz County. “That region does not have services available.”

When the organization did its needs and assets report in 2008, staff found that teens accounted for 12 percent of births statewide, but 16 percent of births among Rio Rico residents, Morales de Phillips said.

Arizona voters approved a tobacco tax in 2006 to fund First Things First, a nonprofit organization that aims to expand early childhood development and health programs throughout the state. For more information, call (520) 761-3012.