Tagged With "legislation"

W ith the opening of the 57th Legislature, the Potts Family Foundation has been busy rebuilding its Early Childhood Legislative Caucus with returning and new members alike. Membership comes from both sides of the aisle and both chambers of the Legislature. The caucus is made up of members who have committed to working through the state budget and policy to improve the lives of Oklahoma’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens and their families. In 2016, the foundation announced the OK25by25...

As promised, I have diligently worked on putting kids and families first. I have worked with the Potts Family Foundation to move the conversation of children in trauma forward in House District 20. The Potts Family Foundation has a powerful video called, Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope. Together we brought this video to two of our school districts in HD20 and are working to bring it to the others for teachers’ professional development in August. Through House Bill...

Each year the United States spends approximately $20 Billion to provide rental assistance to low-income families through Housing Choice Vouchers . What? You’ve never heard of Housing Choice Vouchers? Perhaps you know them by the more common name, Section 8 Housing. Under the law, this money can be spent in any neighborhood within a Housing Authority's jurisdiction. But most of the 2.2 million families using vouchers continue to live in high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhoods. The...

Child welfare services could be more effective — and less expensive — if they were more proactive than reactive, an Oklahoma House of Representatives subcommittee was told Tuesday. “Sixty percent of child protective services responses nationally are for neglect only, … but our interventions have been predominantly focused on addressing … physical abuse,” said Clare Anderson, a senior policy advisor with the Chapin Hall child welfare research center at the University of Chicago. The result,...