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Unleashing the Potential of Delawareans

Written on: January 25th, 2014 in Effective & Efficient Government

We must commit to unleashing the potential of every Delawarean by ensuring equal opportunities to acquire good education and training, find good jobs, and live in safe and vibrant communities. That was my message to our legislature and people across Delaware when I laid out priorities for 2014 in my annual State of the State speech.

We have made significant progress to strengthen the state over the past year:

• Delaware’s job growth has outpaced the nation’s average;
• Schools are better preparing our students; and
• Businesses are dealing with clearer and fewer regulations.

But to paraphrase Will Rogers, even if we’re on the right track, we’ll get run over if we just sit here; we have so much more to do.

Here are some highlights of our plans for the coming year.

Opportunity to Work:

• Launch a program to help students acquire nationally recognized manufacturing certificates, recognizing that pursuing a traditional degree is not for everyone.

A Culture of Innovation:

• Support cutting-edge research that leads to new inventions, spawns new companies, and creates jobs.
• Focus on cybersecurity, a field in which we have hundreds of unfilled jobs and need more qualified professionals.

Opportunity to Learn:

• Better support our youngest children and their families by expanding the proven Nurse-Family Partnership.
• Aim to improve our teacher compensation system to attract and retain top teachers in our schools.

Safe and Vibrant Communities:

• Create development districts to revitalize downtown areas.
• Invest in infrastructure and clean water projects that create jobs and lay the foundation for future prosperity.
• Reduce crime by addressing gun trafficking in Wilmington and focusing on ways to help ex-offenders and those suffering from addiction become productive members of society.

You can find more information about how we are pursuing these priorities here. Next week, I will unveil a balanced budget that maintains our fiscal responsibility while making the types of investments I outlined in the State of the State. Every Delawarean has something to contribute if given the chance. We need to make sure they have that chance.

I look forward to working toward that goal this year.

Tags: Delaware, education, jobs, responsible government, State of the State