Commitments to Child Well-Being
In the fall of 2000, Governor Taft engaged community partners throughout Ohio to identify a common set of commitments to child well-being. These commitments have been used to focus and guide policy development, program and resource alignment, and the mobilization of meaningful partnerships to improve the lives of Ohio’s children. Ohio’s Commitments to Child Well-Being are:

• Expectant parents and newborns thrive
• Infants and toddlers thrive
• Children are ready for school
• Children and youth succeed in school
• Youth choose healthy behaviors
• Youth successfully transition into adulthood

Turnaround Ohio
In 2007, Governor Strickland began his administration with the “Vision to Move Ohio Forward.” The Turnaround Ohio plan was developed to create and keep jobs in Ohio by investing in Ohio's strengths, such as energy production and entrepreneurship, while bringing us the jobs of the future by making sure that we have the most educated workforce possible.

We know that healthy, happy children are able to learn; that good learners in effective schools become educated learners ready to contribute as workers; that able workers stay where there are worthy opportunities. We know that when good jobs are performed well, for fair pay, we start a cycle of success that builds its own momentum, creating opportunities for new investment, a growing tax base, stable families -- everything Ohio has been losing for almost two decades.

Turnaround Ohio is the Strickland/Fisher strategy to make sure we start that cycle of success here in Ohio, and here are its key components:

1. Provide every child a fair start through access to high-quality early care and education.
2. Create schools that work for every child by giving teachers the tools and technology they need to stimulate creative, problem-solving students to power Ohio's 21st century economy.
3. Dramatically increase the number of students in Ohio's colleges and universities by broadening access and ensuring that those who attend succeed and graduate with a degree that counts.
4. Focus on Ohio's strengths by building on Ohio's regional economies and globally competitive industries, spurring small and mid-size business growth, supporting emerging entrepreneurs in our cities, fostering innovation and unleashing the potential of Ohio's great universities and investing in next generation energy as a job source as well as a resource.
5. Provide all Ohioans the opportunities to attain skills for high-quality jobs.
6. Stabilize health costs for government and businesses alike and advance the health of our citizens by increasing the number of Ohioans who have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, preventing illnesses and injury and focusing on community-based services for children, families, older adults and persons with disabilities.
7. Retain, create and attract jobs worthy of Ohio workers by focusing on industry sectors in which Ohio companies are growing, and which will spur our economy to generate wealth and prosperity for the future.

Unity
The Ohio Family & Children First Coordinators Association began to envision the unification of these two ideologies and develop a partnership would that could become a powerful message to the youth and families of Ohio:

1. Provide every child a fair start
   Expectant parents and newborns thrive
   Infants and toddlers thrive
2. Create schools that work for every child
   Children are ready for school
   Children and youth succeed in school
3. A degree that counts
4. Focus on Ohio’s strengths
   Youth choose healthy behaviors
5. Skills for high-quality jobs
   Youth Successfully transition into adulthood
6. Stabilize health costs for government and businesses alike and advance health of our citizens
7. Retain, create, and attract jobs worthy of Ohio