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WASHINGTON—Many American children face challenges to their long-term health and academic success because of economic factors and lack access to high-quality health care and constructive early learning opportunities. With this in mind, the NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) today kicked off a first-of-its-kind summit called Building Brighter Futures for Our Children that brings together state teams to develop a coordinated policy agenda among state health, early education and human service systems to ensure better outcomes for our nation's children.

Held September 16–18 in National Harbor, Maryland, the summit supports the convergence of state efforts to improve child outcomes, integrate public services across state systems and create a comprehensive state children's policy agenda. Nearly 40 states are expected to participate in the summit.

“Children's future success is influenced by a variety of interrelated factors at an early age,” said NGA Chair Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas. “Given the current economic climate, state initiatives that foster high-quality early childhood programs and children's health and welfare are even more critical to addressing these factors and ensuring that all kids are equipped to lead healthy, productive lives.”

With the troubled economy and limited state budgets, the summit aims to help states:

• 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 titled 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, community and health care settings. In addition, 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.

The summit also highlighted a number of resources produced by the NGA Center's Education and Social and Workforce Programs divisions. These include Creating a Comprehensive State Early Childhood Advisory Council – FAQs, A Governor's Guide to Children's Cabinets, Partnering with the Private and Philanthropic Sectors: A Governor's Guide to Investing in Early Childhood,Nine Things Governors Can do to Build to Build a Strong Child Welfare System, and State Strategies to Address Child and Family Poverty. These resources offer a comprehensive picture of state efforts to address issues that impact children in education, health and social areas and can help states as they work to develop policy agendas.

The full meeting agenda is available at www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0909BUILDINGFUTURESAGENDA.PDF. For more information on the NGA Center divisions and activities, please visit www.nga.org/center.

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Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation's governors and one of Washington, D.C.'s most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. For more information, visit www.nga.org.