Innovative Idea

Community of Support for Early Childhood Communities

The primary outcome for this submission is to increase support for early childhood communities in the area of autism and related disabilities by creating a statewide community of specially trained providers. The Autism Foundation of Oklahoma (AFO) will use the Training of Trainers Model to achieve this goal, recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2019).

Innovative Idea

Early Learning Works

The goal of Next Gen Tulsa FCC is to increase access to quality home-based child care for young children in Tulsa.

Innovative Idea

Children's Sanctuary at Palomar, Oklahoma City's Family Justice Center

Palomar has a tremendous goal: to unify all possible services a victim and their children may need and make them easily accessible by housing them in one convenient location.

Innovative Idea

Early Birds for Child Care Professionals, Smart Start Central Oklahoma

Smart Start Central Oklahoma’s primary goal is to build a supportive and involved community that works to ensure children are safe, healthy, eager to learn, and ready to succeed by the time they enter school.

Innovative Idea

Deaf Mentor Program: Deaf Adult to Family Connection

To increase visual language skills of young deaf children and their families, and establish meaningful relationships between families and Deaf adult role models across the state of Oklahoma.

Innovative Idea

Rooted Together: A Cultural Guide for Families of Indigenous Children

Rooted Together: A Cultural Guide for Families of Indigenous Children is a toolkit designed to help non-Native parents and caregivers raise Indigenous children in a culturally respectful and supportive environment.

Innovative Idea

Early Birds Childcare Collaborations

Twelve percent of Oklahoma children live with parents with less than a high school diploma, and Medicaid pays for nearly 60% of births.

Innovative Idea

Air Quality and Filtration in Early Childhood Settings

This project will involve two groups: Teachers and the children enrolled in their ECE classrooms. Although child outcomes are ultimately our interest, the successful use of air filters to improve ECE classroom air quality is dependent on the teachers who run those classrooms.

Innovative Idea

OKAEYC – Respectful Caregiving

This submission seeks funding for a series of workshops titled "Respectful Caregiving.” In these workshops, our instructors will introduce caregivers to the principles of respectful caregiving, an essential philosophy and approach that fosters secure and respectful relationships between caregivers and children.

Innovative Idea

Early Childhood Social Emotional Support Coaches

The target population will be children in the Early Childhood Center in Woodward Oklahoma who have been identified/referred from a teacher and observed/assessed by the Mental Health Consultant as needing extra help with social emotional skills.

Innovative Idea

Respectful Caregiving - OKAEYC

The proposed workshop series, a collaborative effort between the Oklahoma Association for the Education of Young Children and certified trainers, seeks to empower caregivers with vital insights into the paramount significance of this early phase.

Innovative Idea

Air Quality in Oklahoma Early Childhood Settings

The overall goals of this project are to investigate the efficacy, implementation, and cost effectiveness of using two air disinfection solutions in ECE classrooms: (1) indoor air purifier, and/or (2) upper air disinfection utilizing germicidal ultraviolet light (UV-C).

Innovative Idea

Calm Waters Infant Mental Health Grief Support Program

The C.A.P. Train the Trainer Program is designed to train teachers, childcare professionals, foster care professionals, and lead parents in communities throughout Oklahoma, who will then disseminate the training to their peers and those they serve.

Innovative Idea

Emergency Child Care Waiver: Innovative Referral and Approval Process

The target population is Oklahoma families with children (ages birth to 8 years old) that have been exposed to a traumatic event.