Policy & Advocacy 

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Oakland Starting Smart and Strong  leverages the power of our collaborative’s stakeholders to advocate for policies that build and improve the systems that support Oakland children, families, and early childhood educators most impacted by racial and economic inequity.

Additional information on our policy and advocacy work can be found in our blog posts. 

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With support from the Hellman Foundation, OSSS is building a community-driven policy agenda, grounded in these equity areas:

• Systems change for Oakland’s youngest learners​
  • Advocate for long-term public investment in early childhood systems
  • Elevate early childhood as a priority in City government and Oakland Unified School District
• Parent and family leadership in community investment
  • Listen to parent, family, & community leadership in equitable implementation of publicly-funded early childhood education
  • Leverage data in support of community priorities
• Equity for early childhood professionals and friend/family/neighbor caregivers
  • Increase access to high-quality training, improved pay and working conditions, supplies, and resources
  • Amplifying Family Child Care (FCC) provider leadership in local advocacy

In 2022-23, OSSS’s policy priorities are: 

1. Equitable Measure AA implementation within Oakland;
2. Uplifting early childhood in Oakland city government;
3. Supporting Oakland early childhood educator/provider advocacy goals.

We invite you to read OSSS's recommendations on centering equity in early care and education and on the potential implications of UTK in Oakland.

All of our policy and advocacy work is grounded racial justice. Read our racial justice statement here.

Read about early childhood and the 2023-25 city budget here. 

Learn more about our policy agenda. Download it here or view the Scribd embed below.