"State of the Child summit" held in response to Madison County's rank in overall child wellbeing

JACKSON, TENN (WNBJ)-

When it comes to the overall wellbeing of children Madison County comes in dead last in Tennessee, ranked 95th out of the 95 counties in the state by a recent study (Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth TCCY)

The United way of West Tennessee and the Jackson Equality Project hope that bottom-place ranking is a wake-up call that will serve as a catalyst for change.

That’s why they hosted the “State of the Child Summit”

United Way President and CEO Matt Marshall said, "We united way and with several of our partners across the community have organized this summit to invite leaders to come and talk about that and think about ways we can improve those scores in those rankings and more importantly, improve Madison county”

Marshall believes everyone needs to get involved, “I just really want to encourage everyone in our community to do everything that they can to make sure that our community is the best that it can be for our children if our grandchildren.”

The summit included speakers, community panels and discussions. One topic: a report by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (tccy) looked at four categories that need to be addressed:

1. Health

2. Education

3. Socioeconomic

4. Family and Community

Cary Voughn is a member of the Rotary Family Youth Initiative he said, “I think what's critical about coming to an event like today is that we walk away with knowledge. We walk away with new tools, we walk away with new action steps, but we execute together”

And the united way CEO wants the community to prepare now for the future, “our goal today, is to map out a vision for western Tennessee and for Jackson specifically for the next 30 years," Marshall said.

The United Way is hoping that the event today will spark change in the community.