We encourage you to watch this thought and discussion provoking YouTube video called "Did You Know." 

 

Do you know?  how hard parents are working in New Hampshire, just to pay for food, fuel and housing?  And how much stress and uncertainty there is around all of us?  If you watched the video, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the pace of change, by the explosion of knowledge, and by the ways every corner of the world, including every corner of New Hampshire, is connected by technology.  Tom Friedman's book, The World is Flat, is an excellent history of the 21st century-- and we are only eight years into this century, with 92 to go!  Just imagine what our children and their children will experience.  Friedman cites all the changes brought about by technology and globalization.  In New Hampshire, we face these challenges daily: at the gas pump, in the grocery store (try to find a local product), and in the ways we learn and communicate.
 
Friedman describes David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue, who merges his personal belief and his business practices.  "Society will be better off if more mothers are able to stay at home with their young children but are given a chance to be wage earners at the same time."  JetBlue 'homesources' its reservation service, employing 1,000, mostly women, part time, who work an average of 25 hours a week, coming into the office for a monthly update and new skills acquisition.  There are all sorts of ways businesses are learning how to be family friendly AND produce a quality service and product. 
 
Are you ready?  for all these changes and competition?   Hard work by parents is not going to be enough to build strong families and keep children safe.  NH has many supports for families, including quality child care, business leaders who work at making the workplace family friendly, legislators and policy makers who are crafting legislation around internet safety, education, and access to health insurance, and state agency leaders who are aggressively pursuing the workforce changes necessary to meet the challenges.
 
One viable way that families can be strengthened is through a network of local family support programs.  A family in need can drop in at the Grapevine in Antrim and get wood from their woodbank.  At the Family Resource Center in Berlin/Gorham, financial literacy programs are helping families navigate the Earned Income Tax Credit, household budgeting, and mortgage challenges.  In Derry, The Upper Room provides teen parenting support and food donations for families whose budget just doesn't stretch quite to the end of the month (and whose does?)
 
These are tough and challenging times that attract leaders in business, the public and private sectors to forge new alliances and to work together to create community supports for families so that a brighter future is assured for children, who can become productive citizens and ensure future prosperity for all. If we believe that our future depends on children, then we need to accept the shared responsibility of developing and maintaining systems that strengthen the ways that children develop well: in school, in a healthy environment, and with prospects for future economic wellbeing.  Are you ready?
 
With much optimism.