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Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From cradle to career: Building Louisiana's workforce begins with early learning
PeopleImages/Getty Images As someone who has spent much of my career building businesses and investing in the community, I've learned that success doesn't happen by accident. It results from careful planning, strategic investment and a commitment to long-term growth. This approach applies not only to business but also to our most important resource: our children. The future of our state's economy depends on how well we invest in our youngest citizens, and no investment is more impactful than early childhood education. When families can access reliable, high-quality early education for their children, parents can go to work or school, and businesses thrive with a stable workforce. Most importantly, children enter kindergarten ready to succeed and better prepared to become the skilled workers and leaders of the future that our economy depends on. In pro-family, pro-business states like ours, quality child care should be a cornerstone of family stability, worker productivity, and economic growth. Yet in Louisiana, despite years of progress and bipartisan support for early learning, we still fund this essential system as if it's optional. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Nearly 174,000 children under age 5 in Louisiana are in households experiencing economic hardship, yet only one in five have access to high-quality early childhood education. Programs like Head Start, LA 4, and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) are funded through federal and state funds and serve thousands of children, yet the demand still outpaces the supply. While the majority of funding for Louisiana's child care programs comes from the federal government, state lawmakers ultimately decide how those dollars are used — and how much more we invest. The quality of our current and future workforce shouldn't be left solely to decisions made in Washington. Despite investments from all levels of government, more than 116,00 economically disadvantaged Louisiana children, from birth to age 4, still lack access to a high-quality, affordable child care program. Any changes in state and federal funding streams directly and immediately impact our working families, who need access to quality child care the most. Due to inadequate funding, many families are left without affordable, high-quality child care options, leaving our children and their working parents behind. Whether we act or not, Louisiana's future workforce is growing up right now. When we make it possible for children to access early learning programs, the data is clear: they are more likely to graduate from high school, secure well-paying jobs, and contribute to their communities. Failure to act leads to costly outcomes for our future communities and economy. But the gap in funding and access isn't just a future problem — it impacts all of us today. Louisiana currently loses an estimated $1.3 billion annually in lost productivity, tax revenue and turnover costs due to inadequate access to child care. Yet, studies show that every dollar invested in early education returns at least 13% due to higher earnings, reduced social and academic remedial costs, and better long-term health outcomes. It's time for Louisiana to treat early childhood education not as an option but as an essential investment in our present and future. This legislative session, Louisiana lawmakers have the opportunity — and the obligation — to sustain and grow investments in early childhood education. Our children deserve a strong start. Our parents deserve the ability to work. And our state deserves a workforce ready to compete. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Toronto Sun
10-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Too busy to get fit? Here's how to work exercise into your packed schedule
Published May 10, 2025 • 4 minute read People work out at a gym. Photo by PeopleImages / iStock / Getty Images Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. You're too busy to exercise, right? Your job consumes all your time. You're strapped by professional and family demands. As you get more and more responsibility, your free time shrinks. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Well, these blockers don't have to be an excuse. Making time simply calls for creativity and a broader understanding of how to get in daily exercise. 'The trap is thinking that exercise must be an hour in the gym,' said Charles Scott, who describes himself as an executive mentor or exercise coach. His message is simple: If you have a very demanding job, you need to find a work-life blend. 'An hour in the gym is exercise,' Scott told The Associated Press. 'But it's just one form of exercise.' Scott coaches about 70 business executives — online and otherwise — and other busy people to improve their physical and professional well-being. He's based in New York and is relatively hardcore about his own exercise but realizes not everyone can be _ or wants to be. He's planning to run across the Grand Canyon in June — the out-and-back version — that covers about 46 miles (74 kilometers). He also has guided his blind friend Dan Berlin on several endurance events including a speed ascent up Mount Kilimanjaro and tandem cycling across the United States with a team of blind cyclists. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Rather than terming it exercise, Scott talks about teaching 'intentional movement' to his goal-driven clients. 'The ambitious person's trap is when you undermine your physical and emotional health in pursuit of your professional goals,' he said. 'It's common in this culture among the executives I mentor.' Scott asks busy people to focus on something other than making money or chasing fame inside the profession. He said he tries to emphasize a holistic approach that includes the emotional, the professional and the physical. 'Our bodies need to move,' he said. 'No matter what age you are, our bodies must move to stay healthy. So if you're not exercising, you're out of alignment.' Alternative exercise for busy people Scott has a list of ways to blend movement into your day without needing a gym. Of course, if you can hit the gym, that's great, too. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He suggests doing one-on-one meetings while you're walking instead of sitting behind the office desk or laptop. Or, he suggests standing rather than sitting when you hold meetings. 'If you want a meeting to be short and efficient, choose the standing conference room,' he said. Or do isometric exercises during a meeting to tone, for instance, your stomach muscles. 'Tighten up your stomach muscles. Hold for 20 seconds and don't hold your breath,' he said. 'Don't make it obvious. Release. Do it again. You'll be sore tomorrow. It burns calories. It tones muscles. And it takes precisely zero seconds out of your I-am-too-busy-to-exercise day.' Ways to blend work and exercise Here are a few more ideas about blending exercise into your work schedule. If your flight is delayed, go for a walk around the airport and add to your daily step count. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Link workouts to daily events. For example, when you wake up, always go for a walk. Or, when you get home from work, do a certain number of pushups after you walk through the door. Make a workout a social event and do it with a friend or a group. Give yourself the title 'athlete' and build habits around that identity. Scott is an advocate of experiencing 'meaningful discomfort,' which he calls the 'birthplace of resilience.' Pay attention to the food you put in your body. Treat your body with respect. Take a quick break from answering emails and do 10 squats or pushups or whatever to add movement. 'In business, many people show up to work and they crank it out all day,' which he termed a 'rookie mistake,' like a newcomer going out too fast at the start of a marathon. 'Then they go home exhausted and they are fussy with the people they love.' The partitioning approach This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. One of Scott's clients is Harrison (Harry) Kahn, the general manager of the Vermont Creamery, an artisanal dairy. Rather than blend, Kahn uses the partition method and awakens at 5 a.m. to get in his exercise, typically running, biking, or popping on skis in the winter in largely rural Vermont. 'I kind of get in the me stuff before the rest of the house wakes up,' he said. He said his wife, Elisabeth, teaches French. She sets off early as they both combine to get their two children ready for school — 11-year-old Iris and 8-year-old Asher. 'Charles has reminded me that life isn't a game of comparison with other people,' he said. 'You have to figure out your own stuff.' Kahn describes himself as a routine-oriented person who is comfortable dividing his day into chapters. Once he's in the office, his attention is the job and 120 employees. 'I'm very focused when I'm at work, so I can get it all in as opposed to going in and out and having the day go on really long.' Toronto & GTA Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists
