Oklahoma City, OK, July 26, 2024 — The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness (OPSR) has been honored with the National Association for Family Child Care’s (NAFCC) Accreditation Facilitation Project of the Year Award. This prestigious recognition celebrates OPSR’s dedicated efforts in enhancing support for family child care providers across Oklahoma.
OPSR’s initiatives to improve access to high-quality child care are driven by two key programs: Rainbow Fleet’s Quality Enhancement Initiative (QEI) and the Thrive Network, which is part of the Child Care Resource and Referral services.
Carrie Williams, Executive Director of OPSR, expressed her gratitude, stating, “We are honored to receive this prestigious award from NAFCC. It validates our efforts and inspires us to continue striving to ensure that every child in Oklahoma has access to the highest quality child care.”
The QEI program, a cornerstone of OPSR’s efforts, has been instrumental in raising child care quality across the state. The program provides free Child Development Associate credentialing and national accreditation to participating providers through facilitated cohorts and financial support. "By the end of this year, we anticipate that 49 out of 50 participants will achieve these elevated national standards. Special thanks go to Dr. Mary McCoy and her team of mentors and coaches, as well as Rainbow Fleet of Oklahoma City, for their crucial contributions to the success of this program,” Williams added.
In addition, the Thrive Network, another vital component of OPSR’s work, was recognized for its significant impact. The network provides family child care providers with monthly training tailored to home-based programs, business consultancy services, and unique resources such as free 24-hour telemedicine and teletherapy services. The Thrive Network also fosters a supportive community for the 1,609 home-based child care programs across Oklahoma, with membership growing to over 550 family child care professionals in just one year.
The success of these programs and the collaboration fostered by OPSR with community partners were key factors in receiving this national accolade.
About OPSR:
OPSR was created to help Oklahoma families access the early care and education, family support, and health and mental health services they need to support their children during their most critical period of development from birth through age 5. OPSR facilitates collaborative planning and decision-making to increase coordination between programs, to maximize the use of public and private funding, and pursue policies that improve learning opportunities and environments for Oklahoma. To learn more visit www.okschoolreadiness.org.
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Contact: Jon Trudgeon
(405) 924-3910
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