Ready By 21 in Oklahoma

 

The Center for Children and Families is partnering with the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) to serve as the local project coordinators for the two year initiative “Ready By 21 Quality Counts”.

 

 

The Ready By 21 Quality Counts initiative is providing training, tools and resources to help local communities improve the quality and readiness of youth programs in a coordinated, collaborative and well-planned manner.  The Quality Counts effort will enable communities to work collaboratively to address the following areas:

 

1. Policy and Leadership — expand the base of committed leadership and promote an actionable plan.
    
2. Strong, Stable Program Base — Build / expand databases and partners to provide easily accessible information about program opportunities.
    
3. Capacity to Assess and Improve Programs – Identify appropriate tools for assessing program quality across the community.
    
4. Capacity to Recruit, Train, and Retain a Quality Workforce — identify and promote “core competencies” and expand professional development and skill-building opportunities for individuals with children and youth in out-of-school time programs.