The Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness (OPSR) is a legislatively created statewide organization that engages and informs policy makers and the public on how to improve children’s health and development. They often do this through public and private partnerships with key stakeholders and utilizing data, research and best practices to make recommendations to the Governor, legislators, and key agencies. In 2019, OPSR engaged ACS to assist in identifying existing communication barriers and developing a plan that would produce the intended outcomes of more families participating in the early childhood care and education system, and more support for early childhood investment in Oklahoma.

Using ACS’s strategic communication framework, OPSR staff and key partners developed a set of communication goals, strategies, and tactics focused on reaching hard to reach families, creating consistent messaging across the state, and developing champions who could educate and inform on early childhood issues at the highest levels of state government.

Outcomes:  The OPSR board heard a summary of the strategic communications work at their final 2019 board meeting and had a positive reaction to the work.

  • Conducted a family survey to understand the messengers and messages that appealed to hard to reach families.
  • OPSR shared the core messages created through the work with sister agencies and board members to inform their future communications about early childhood.
  • In February 2020 OPSR held its first board development session to educate and inform board members on how to communicate effectively with policy makers.
  • OPSR had determined that developing and training champions is a key priority for 2020/2021 and will use the strategies, tactics, and actions steps developed through the communications framework to do so.