Taking care of your physical and mental health is just one piece of the puzzle of living a truly healthy lifestyle. Children rely on parents to help them make good decisions and to bring them up in healthy environments, but that’s not always possible. All around the world children are being born into poverty and high stress environments, and that can have a significant impact on their development and overall well-being.
Studies have shown that children born into stressful environments are at an increased risk for:
- Healthcare intervention
- Poor educational progress
- Inhibited social skills
- Eventual incarceration
These environments aren’t isolated to areas of extreme property; they are occurring in our own back yard. So how can we reverse this trend?
Building a Brighter Future
In an effort to work towards a better tomorrow for our children, The Twin Cities Maimonides Society is partnering with the Parent-Child Home Program of JFCS to conduct a symposium called: Building a Brighter Future for Our Children – The Benefits of Pre-School Education for Children, Families and the Community. I work with the society, and it is truly a wonderful organization.
The free public symposium will be held Sunday, May 1st from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Humphrey Center at the University of Minnesota, located at 301 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455. Some of the featured speakers will include Dr. Jeff Schidd, Medical Director of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Dr. Megan Gunnar, head of the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, and Dr. Art Rolnick, a former director of economic research at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. Some of the topics they will discuss will include:
- The effects of toxic, stressful environments on communities.
- The current understanding of how stress affects early childhood.
- The long-term benefits of thoughtfully designed pre-school education programs, including their impressive economic return and benefits to children, their families and our communities.
To learn more about the event, head on over to the group’s Facebook page. For more information or to RSVP, contact Dan Lepow (651) 695-3885, dlepow@sstpaulfed.org, or contact Bill Ressler, (952) 417-2312, bressler@jewishminneapolis.org.
