V.I. first lady Cecile deJongh spent three days last week attending a first-of-its-kind summit, "Building Brighter Futures for Our Children."
The summit, organized by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, brought together resources from the nation’s states and territories to develop and coordinate policy while setting an agenda for health, early education and human services in an effort to create a better future for children throughout the nation and here in the Virgin Islands.
"Many Virgin Islands children are facing challenges to both their long-term health and academic success because of economic factors," deJongh said in a Government House statement. "Additionally, they lack access to high-quality health care and constructive early learning opportunities."
The summit was an important step toward developing a coordinated effort with other governors and their policy teams to address these factors and ensure that all of our children are equipped to lead healthy, productive lives, she said.
The purpose of the summit was to help states and territories coordinate their approaches to children’s issues. About 40 states and territories’ representatives were at the summit.
With the troubled economy and limited budgets, the summit’s key aims were to help states and territories:
— Understand the critical linkages among economic status, health and early care and education that affect a child’s lifetime success;
— Explore how public expenditures can be coordinated to improve efficiency and accountability across state systems;
— Identify strategies to enhance the operational alignment among states agencies, initiatives and desired outcomes; and
— Learn about strategies that demonstrate high returns for individuals, families and states.
During the summit, the NGA Center’s Health Division released a new report, "Shaping a Healthier Generation: Successful State Strategies to Prevent Childhood Obesity," which looks at actions states are taking to prevent obesity and encourage kids to eat healthier and be more active in child care, school and community health-care settings. The report outlines three key strategies governors can use to help prevent childhood obesity:
— Setting a vision and building public awareness for obesity-prevention programs;
— Coordinating state agencies’ obesity-prevention efforts through governance structures; and
— Collecting data on children’s health to better address their needs.
"I found the summit to be very worthwhile when it came to pulling resources and sharing ideas with other administrations throughout the country," deJongh said. "It was a very good step along the path to developing better programs for our kids."
