Community Impact
Know and Grow Oklahoma creates impact through the contributions of a diverse group of partners. We build collaborations that raise awareness about early childhood development, support community engagement and create sustainability for service providers.
Community Collaboratives
Know and Grow Oklahoma Community Discovery Project
The first initiative of Know and Grow (KNG) Oklahoma was to gather information from around the state to determine how children, born between 2019 to May 2023, and their families are doing after the COVID-19 pandemic. Research indicates infants, toddlers and preschool-age children born during this time may face challenges to their healthy development in larger numbers than previous generations.
To gather this information, the KNG project team awarded contracts to 15 communities across the state to use existing coalitions or form community collaboratives. Their purpose was to engage in conversations with families, caregivers, community leaders and decision-makers that touch the lives of children born during this time. The project helped us learn about the challenges and opportunities that presented as a result of the pandemic.
The KNG communities began their work in late September 2023 and final discovery reports were collected in January 2024. The stories and data communities acquired will inform our statewide efforts to create strong, resilient communities that can support our youngest Oklahomans and their families as they navigate through what has become our new world.
“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”
Raising Awareness
Early Relational Health
One of the most exciting aspects of Know and Grow Oklahoma is the statewide Early Relational Health (ERH) awareness campaign. Our goal is to educate Oklahoma communities about how the growth and development of young children depends on the positive emotional connections made with their parents and caregivers.
The community and the conditions that surround families are a significant part of Early Relational Health. The more people are informed about ERH and help to spread the word, the better we can work collaboratively to create a resilient Oklahoma for children and families.
ERH refers to the emotional well-being children experience when they have strong, positive and nurturing relationships with adults. These nurturing relationships lead to the development of secure attachments necessary for healthy development in infants and toddlers.
ERH is foundational to children’s healthy growth and development, as well as their parents’/caregivers’ sense of competence and overall well-being. These strong and enduring relationships also help protect the family from the harmful effects of stress, which can drain parents/caregivers of the physical and emotional energy needed to be present for their children as they grow, learn and thrive.
Stay tuned as we’ll be sharing more information about how you can learn more about Early Relational Health.
Supporting Local Outreach
Family Resource Centers
Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are community-based, flexible, family-focused and culturally responsive hubs of support that provide warm connections with and among families, and links them to programs and targeted services based on the needs and interests of the families within their area of service. The KNG team is committed to supporting the FRCs in Oklahoma’s rural communities, which are often most in need of available and accessible services.
FRCs offer a variety of services based on community input and available resources. These services may include but are not limited to, connecting families and children to child care, mental health services, housing, food pantries, diaper banks, personal and family finance education and parent skill building.
Stay tuned to learn about the exciting work being done in support of children and families in Oklahoma FRC communities.
Supporting Sustainable Networks
Self-Healing Communities
The Self-Healing Communities model helps communities create positive social change and stronger, resilient families by investing in the people most at risk for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are traumatic events that occur in a child’s life before reaching the age of 18.
The idea behind the Self-Healing Communities work is to create a network of support for families to help them address the challenges they face. Supporting families with adequate resources reduces the occurrence of trauma, avoiding negative impacts on health and increasing the opportunity for everyone to thrive.
Raising Resilient Oklahomans is a growing network of Self-Healing Communities supported by the Potts Family Foundation (PFF). It grew out of a workshop PFF sponsored in October 2019. This movement began in Oklahoma with 20 community teams from across the state and continues to grow.
We invite you to join Raising Resilient Oklahomans Self-Healing Communities via Zoom on the 4th Thursday of the month at 10 a.m. To receive a link to the meetings, contact lmanaugh@pottsfamilyfoundation.org.