Kristi Leonard's Colleagues at Smart Start Central Oklahoma
Kristi Leonard's Contact Details
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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Smart Start Central Oklahoma
Kristi Leonard's Company Details
Smart Start Central Oklahoma was established in 1999 as Success by Six, an initiative of the United Way of Central Oklahoma. In 2003, Success by Six Central Oklahoma became Smart Start Central Oklahoma and was designated a 501(c)(3) public charity.Our mission is to build a community that supports parents and caregivers as a child's first and most influential teacher. We accomplish this by collaborating with a wide range of partners in the early childhood field, conducting public awareness campaigns about the importance of the early years, and offering our own school readiness programs. Our vision is for all children in Oklahoma to start school safe, healthy, eager to learn, and ready to succeed.All children deserve to start kindergarten on a level playing field. By providing professional development opportunities for early care and education professionals, we equip early childhood educators with tools, resources, and the latest information in child development. We also offer Early Birds, a free school readiness program for parents-to-be and parents of children from birth to five years old. We partner with public school districts as well as other community partners to offer classes in English and Spanish that parents attend three times per year. Through Early Birds, parents are taught how to take advantage of teachable moments throughout the day. They also receive activities, educational toys, and books to stimulate their child's development and learning. Participants in Early Birds report interacting with their children with more purpose, and observe their children showing more interest in reading and learning. Children whose parents attended Early Birds also regularly outperform their peers on kindergarten entry benchmark assessments. When children start school prepared to succeed, they are more likely to graduate from high school and pursue higher education or enter the workforce, thus strengthening our community and our economy.