An initiative headed up by Cape May County Freeholder Jeff Pierson took a major step forward on Tuesday. An Affiliation Agreement between the County of Cape May and Stockton University was approved unanimously by the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Pierson decided to look for answers upon hearing concerns that Cape May County has one of the higher pediatric cancer rates in the country. Over the course of the last four months, there have been several meetings with representatives of Stockton University to get students to do a study to look more closely at this issue.

“When you look at these numbers you can’t help but wonder why our County has such high numbers,” said Pierson, liaison to Health and Human Services. “I believe as elected officials we have to take a proactive approach and finding out what we can do to help.”

This agreement will allow students both at the graduate and undergraduate level to work within the County to collect information and find some data that will better help find out why.

“I want to thank all of the staff at Stockton University for working with the County so well on making this project a reality,” said Pierson. “In government you have to have partnerships to make important initiatives happen and this is just another example of a great partnership.”