Erik Hite Foundation Inc.

“Form 990 is prepared by an independent cpa. The board of directors receives a copy of the prepared form 990 to review prior to filing.”

“The conflict of interest policy covers directors, principal officers and members of committees with governing board delegated powers (interested persons). The policy is reviewed and signed annually by interested persons. An interested person must disclose the existence of a financial interest and be given the opportunity to disclose all material facts. After any discussion with the interested person, he/she shall leave the governing board or committee meeting while the determination of a conflict of interest is discussed and voted upon. The remaining members shall decide if a conflict of interest exists and whether a more advantageous transaction may be obtained from a disinterested person or entity, and if not, whether the transaction or arrangement is in the organization's best interest, for its own benefit, and whether it is fair and reasonable.”

“Documents and policies are available upon request.”

“The foundation opened its first childcare facility in 2011 and offers flexible hours during the week for children six weeks to five years of age and an after-school program for those ages five to twelve. The center is a secured facility with safety coded doors and cameras throughout the facility. The center has full time, part time and drop-in services. The foundation follows godly principles and strives for excellence of care for those first responders and active military employees who serve and protect the community and our country. The center has served over 6,687 families from 27 different law enforcement agencies, firefighters stations and military branches. During the ongoing covid-19 pandemic we remained open and caring for the children of first responders and keeping our teacher and staff employed. We have maintained the flexible hours that these employees need for different shift work and have kept the program affordable. The center is open nearly all holidays. During the fiscal year 2022/2023, more improvements have been made in enriching the outdoor play areas by adding outdoor equipment for play enrichment. Additional focus was placed on the professional development of staff and teachers through a series community of practice programs, sazaeyc conference opportunity, training and encouraging the pursuit of studies in ece. The foundation is currently working with the city of tucson to add a child development center to serve public safety employees including communications in order to recruit and retain talented employees.”

“The no belt required program launched in april of 2022 with the mission of providing expert repetitive defensive tactics training. It is the most effective way; cost, time, and confidence wise, to incorporate proven de-escalation tactics and habits into active-duty law enforcement and first responders, with the ultimate goal of saving officer and community member lives while enhancing effective community policing and growing public trust. We maintained 25 regularly attending members, 15 dedicated coaches and have established community affiliations with several martial arts studios. In addition, the team continues to reach out to tucson, oro valley, marana, sahuarita and tribal law enforcement departments to bring this training to everyone who will benefit from it.”

“In may 2016, the erik hite foundation opened its scholarship program for summer camps. The summer camp scholarship program is intended to reimburse the first responders' families for registration fees paid for summer camp attendance for their children. Families sending two or more children to summer camp will be given priority consideration. Qualifying ages for this scholarship are children 5 to 18 years old. Our goal is to help offset the cost of expensive summer camp programs and to keep their children active during a long summer vacation while their parents concentrate on work. In fiscal year 2020-2021, this program went unused because of covid 19, and we had no applicants. In fiscal year 2021-2022 the program was revived and we were able to send 5 deserving children to camp programs of their choice. In fiscal year 2022 - 2023 we were able to accommodate 23 children and offer $8,205 in scholarship support to families. In april 2016, the erik hite foundation re-opened its workshop program. Our goals with this program are to educate, to demonstrate and to prevent. In partnership with some of our donors, we bring a variety of workshops to the first responders that we serve and help them to be more educated on how to find the resources they need for their families. Also, with the help of professionals on a panel style-workshop, we demonstrate how to accomplish their family goals, whether financial stability, managing their erratic schedules, or any other need that they might have. In addition, we raise awareness within our first responders community how to take care of their families. With the shift in public sentiment toward law enforcement we are also now sponsoring a spouses support group in addition to the other outreach programs we have offered in the past. While these programs are less visible, they may well be more valuable to our first responders and their families. During fiscal 2021-2022, our spouse support group really hit its stride, thanks in part to dedicated volunteers. We currently have about 35 first responder spouses attending regular meetings. In fiscal year 2022-2023 our spouse support groups were helping 120 families cope with and share their experiences. Ehf provided over $7,000 in professional counseling/facilitating services for these groups.”