Smart Start Oklahoma

JumpStart Tulsa A Smart Start Oklahoma Community Partnership

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Oklahoma's Early Childhood Partnership:
Smart Start Oklahoma

Tulsa's partnership is part of a statewide network of community partnerships under the Smart Start Oklahoma umbrella.

Smart Start Oklahoma is a grassroots initiative with a shared vision that all Oklahoma children will be safe, healthy, eager to learn, and ready to succeed by the time they enter school.

Smart Start increases awareness of the developmental needs of young children, connects existing programs for young children, and marshals community resources to focus on early care and education. Smart Start reaches out to support families who want to give their children a good start in life.

Oklahoma currently has eighteen Smart Smart communities, including Tulsa; Tulsa Smart Start is also known as JumpStart.

For more information, please visit the Smart Start Oklahoma website.

"Tulsa World" insert, summer 2006 -- Oklahoma's state and local Smart Start partnerships, importance of positive early childhood development, and what parents can do

Article by former Smart Start Oklahoma Executive Director Nancy VonBargen about the importance of licensing for safe child care - published in the "Tulsa World" in July 2007

History

On April 22, 2003, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed HB 1094, the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness Act.

VISION:

All Oklahoma children will be safe, healthy, eager to learn, and ready to succeed by the time they enter school.

STRATEGIES:

Strategy One: Enact a strong public polity promoting early childhood care and education

Strategy Two: Create a statewide public-private early childhood partnership

Strategy Three: Implement a comprehensive public engagement campaign

Strategy Four: Mobilize communities to provide environments that support children and families

RESULTS SOUGHT:

Result 1: Families Nurture, Teach and Provide for Their Young Children

Result 2: Children Will be Born Healthy and Remain Healthy

Result 3: Families With Young Children Are Able to Find and Afford High-Quality Child Care When Needed

Result 4: Children Enter School Prepared to Learn and Continue to Succeed

The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness (OPSR), comprised of members from the public and private sectors, coordinates existing early childhood education programs at the community and state levels to increase their effectiveness and make them more cost-efficient, and helps raise awareness of the importance of positive early childhood development. The partnership is now known as Smart Start Oklahoma.

The Tulsa County Partnership for Early Childhood Success was launched in October 2003. Since then, fifteen other local community partnerships have begun all across Oklahoma.

The state and local partnerships were recommended by the Governor's Task Force on Early Childhood Education (Executive Summary of recommendations)

Oklahoma First Lady Kim Henry made visits to Oklahoma communities throughout the fall of 2003 to support the state and local early childhood partnerships. The First Lady's visit to Tulsa was October 29th, 2003.

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