Healthy People 2010 is the model that has guided our work in identifying how to focus on improving the health of Florida's children and youth. ^{(1, 2)}   That enormous body of work represents the best thinking of the most eminent health professionals in our nation. Healthy People 2010 provides a large body of known information on health status and health care. In order to be able to tie directly into this national effort and take advantage of the ongoing measurement that will be occurring, this work maintains the established focus areas and objectives from Healthy People 2010 and adds six child and youth indicators that were felt to be important when a close-up view of children's health is needed. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health describes “Leading Indicators” as
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“Chosen based on their ability to motivate action, the availability of data to measure their progress and their relevance … Leading health indicators are intended to help everyone more easily understand the importance of health promotion and disease prevention and to encourage wide participation in improving health in the next decade. Developing strategies and action plans to address one or more of these indicators can have a profound effect on increasing the quality of life and the years of healthy life and on eliminating health disparities.” (USDHHS, pp 24,25)⁽³⁾