On the first stop of the national tour, host Gloria Riviera is live in Tulsa to speak with members of a coalition that is supporting both families and childhood educators while working to stamp out Oklahoma’s expansive child care desert.

We meet panelists Cindy Decker, executive director of Tulsa Educare, an early childcare provider in Tulsa; Jackie Evans, owner of Aunt Jackie’s Family Childcare Home, one of six family child care programs in Tulsa Educare’s Partnerships program; and Jennifer Kirby who is the Cherokee Nation Human Services executive director.

All three speak with Gloria about  their experience in what it takes to train and retain educators  and make child care accessible for families across Oklahoma, including within the Cherokee Nation. 

Show Notes

Presented by Neighborhood Villages. Neighborhood Villages is a Massachusetts-based systems change non-profit. It envisions a transformed, equitable early childhood education system that lifts up educators and sets every child and family up to thrive. In pursuit of this vision, Neighborhood Villages designs, evaluates, and scales innovative solutions to the biggest challenges faced by early childhood education providers and the children and families who rely on them, and drives policy reform through advocacy, education, and research.

This season was made possible with generous support from Imaginable Futures, a global philanthropic investment firm working with partners to build more healthy and equitable systems, so that everyone has the opportunity to learn and realize the future they imagine. Learn more at www.imaginablefutures.com

We also thank the George Kaiser Family Foundation for their partnership and sponsorship of this live event. To learn more about GKFF and its work in Tulsa, visit gkff.org. We also thank our hosts the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa.

Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

Visit Tulsa Educare’s website to learn about efforts to expand families' access to high quality early childhood education.

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