About
Oakland Starting Smart and Strong

Oakland Starting Smart and Strong is a broad, active and diverse collaboration with core leadership of parent advocacy groups, early care and education providers, city and county systems leaders and representatives of elected officials, community based organizations, philanthropy, and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).
Our collective vision of success is that:
We focus our resources and systems-building efforts towards children and families most impacted by social, racial, and economic inequity.
Over our history, we have moved from a focus on kindergarten readiness to a broader framework that: 1) prioritizes equity gaps in early learning, healthy development and family support and leadership resources and; 2) seeks to address root causes for those disparities (eg. trauma and racism).
Read an overview of our work here.
Our collective vision of success is that:
- Every young child in Oakland has access to high quality early learning experiences;
- Every adult in that child’s life has the resources, tools and information necessary to support them; and
- Schools and communities are designed and operated to support the healthy development of every child, regardless of race or family income level.
We focus our resources and systems-building efforts towards children and families most impacted by social, racial, and economic inequity.
Over our history, we have moved from a focus on kindergarten readiness to a broader framework that: 1) prioritizes equity gaps in early learning, healthy development and family support and leadership resources and; 2) seeks to address root causes for those disparities (eg. trauma and racism).
Read an overview of our work here.