Bright Futures Begin at Birth — Minnesota Event Focuses Statewide on Healthy Starts
Earlier this month, Health Partners and the Greater Twin Cities United Way co-hosted an event to highlight collaborative initiatives across the state that are working to give children a healthy start. The keynote, delivered by George Halvorson, focused on the importance of talking, reading, playing, and singing to children in the first years of life. Panelists from the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), St. Paul Public Library, White Early Child Care, and Minneapolis Foundation shared how their initiatives empower parents to implement strategies to promote early language development. A few takeaways:
- Andre Dukes, the Family Education Director at NAZ emphasized the importance of creating environments of shared learning with parents and how NAZ empowers parents through the idea that “every interaction counts”.
- Jane Eastwood, the Director of the St. Paul Public Library described ways that the library system supports parents in building their children’s early language and literacy and announced children’s books that have been written and published in Karen.
- Barb Fabre, the Director of White Earth Child Care, encouraged organizations to serve children across the state and to consider the important role of grandparents and child care providers in building early language skills.
- Luz María Frías, Vice President of Community Impact at the Minneapolis Foundation, highlighted the important role of oral storytelling in many cultures and communities and its role in supporting early language development.
Check out the video developed by Health Partners and the Greater Twin Cities United Way highlighting the importance of talking, reading, and singing in the early years.
What are organizations in your community doing to ensure every child has a health start?
“We cannot change the learning trajectory at 15 years; we need to change it at 15 months.” — George Halvorson
