Chesapeake Comprehensive Plan For Children And Youth

The documents presented here represent the plan for Chesapeake’s children, pre-birth to age 5 and children and youth, ages 6 to 22. Upon completion of these efforts, the two plans will merge to result in a “Comprehensive Plan for Chesapeake’s Children and Youth,” which will be overseen by the Chesapeake Office of Youth Services.

Throughout this nine month planning process, the Chesapeake Collaborative Planning Committee has worked to closely examine early childhood education and care from a number of perspectives. We have reviewed the status of our youngest citizens from a broad range of social, economic, educational and health perspectives. Where possible, we have compared and contrasted how our children stand in the context of the region and the state overall.

We have discussed, and at times debated, the relative effectiveness of programs and approaches that seek to prepare young children to be healthy and ready for success when they enter kindergarten. To the extent practical, we have looked at the dollars that support such initiatives as investments-- investments on which our children and the citizens who pay for them through tax dollars are entitled to receive maximum return.

We have been particularly cognizant that today’s children will grow into a world that will be considerably different than the one we’ve known. They will face competition for economic prosperity as adults from their counterparts now growing up literally all over the world. And what is true for them is also true for American communities and U.S. companies.

Simply stated, an important part of our working equation has been that today’s kids are tomorrow’s workforce. Our ability to prepare our children academically, socially and health-wise for success in entering kindergarten goes beyond their futures as individuals. It goes to Chesapeake’s collective future as a strong economic entity as well as to the nation’s economic security.

This document is the programmatic foundation to ensure appropriate funding to meet the diverse and growing education, health and social development needs of the young children and families of Chesapeake. It both reflects and responds to what the members of this Committee have identified through this strategic process.

In the years ahead, we will be careful stewards of any responsibilities which we are given, and will provide statistical ways of tracking program performance. We will always assign top priority to accountability-- consistently defining the return on investment for dollars that underwrite initiatives for early education and care.

After all, it’s about the kids, and that’s critical. But it’s also about all of us… and all of Chesapeake.