​About Oakland Starting Smart and Strong

Oakland Starting Smart and Strong is a broad, active, and diverse collaboration bringing together early care and education providers, community-based organizations, parent advocacy groups, city and county public systems leaders, and philanthropy.
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 Since 2015, we have been the backbone and convener of Oakland's early childhood ecosystem.  More than 40 partner organizations work together under our collective impact model, building cross-sector trust, amplifying community voice, and driving measurable systems change.  All done in service of our mission of ensuring Oakland's children, especially our Black and Brown children, have a strong developmental start.
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 
  • Schools and communities are designed and operated to support the healthy development of every child, regardless of race or family income level 

OUR PURPOSE

A young child jumps in the air with his arms raised while other children play in the background
Photo courtesy of TalkOakland.org

GET INVOLVED

An educator kneels down to be eye level with a young child while they play with bubbles together
Photo courtesy of TalkOakland.org
Many of the photos on this site appear courtesy of Hasain Rasheed Photography