Policy & Advocacy
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 and families most impacted by racial and economic inequity.
With support from the Hellman Foundation, OSSS is building a community-driven policy agenda, grounded in these equity areas:
The Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has laid bare our nation’s systemic inequities. White supremacy and systemic racism permeate our institutions and systems, and require intentional efforts to dismantle. OSSS centers on supporting systems-impacted community members — ranging from early educators/child care providers, families/parents, and children — to set the terms of what healing looks like for them. We define healing as cultivating resilience, and work towards unraveling systemic racism by centering early educators and family leadership in our systems change work. Instead of top-down solutions that at best ignore community leadership, or at worst, deepen systemic inequities, we build bridges between systems and community members. In contrast to gatekeeping practices that reinforce inequity through token inclusion of community voice and lack of transparency in decision making, bridge building is healing work that can transform racist, exclusionary power dynamics. With these bridges, our goal is to elevate community-driven policy and funding priorities for resourcing early childhood systems. Reparative, healing, and racially just work can take place when systems are truly responsive to and aligned with the priorities of systems-impacted early educators and families.
Learn more about our policy agenda & download here.
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
- Build and expand trauma-informed systems
- Advocate for long-term public investment in early childhood systems
- Parent and family leadership in community investment
- Listen to parent, family, & community leadership
- 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
- Advocate for workplace safety especially in context of COVID-19
The Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has laid bare our nation’s systemic inequities. White supremacy and systemic racism permeate our institutions and systems, and require intentional efforts to dismantle. OSSS centers on supporting systems-impacted community members — ranging from early educators/child care providers, families/parents, and children — to set the terms of what healing looks like for them. We define healing as cultivating resilience, and work towards unraveling systemic racism by centering early educators and family leadership in our systems change work. Instead of top-down solutions that at best ignore community leadership, or at worst, deepen systemic inequities, we build bridges between systems and community members. In contrast to gatekeeping practices that reinforce inequity through token inclusion of community voice and lack of transparency in decision making, bridge building is healing work that can transform racist, exclusionary power dynamics. With these bridges, our goal is to elevate community-driven policy and funding priorities for resourcing early childhood systems. Reparative, healing, and racially just work can take place when systems are truly responsive to and aligned with the priorities of systems-impacted early educators and families.
Learn more about our policy agenda & download here.