OKLAHOMA CITY – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and also Spring Break week to all those students out there needing a break to decompress from their schoolwork. I always enjoyed that little bit of time off during my academic years to bond with friends, usually relax at home, and prepare for the final push to the end of the semester.
Lawmakers are in a very similar situation as they have built a short break into their work schedule for time with their families. The break allows for a couple of days following committee work and the first bit of floor activity of hearing legislation to spend two extra days decompressing from the tension of considering ideas that can weigh heavily on some.
The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) has some significant issues and fun events coming up over the next two months. We released our legislative bill tracking list following the first deadline week. We are working with some lawmakers to promote their child-friendly policies and discussing changes to other ideas in hopes of improving them. You can find this list at https://oica.org should you want to go over the remaining bills that we are tracking and engaging.
To promote these issues further, OICA has organized this year’s Child Advocacy Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Child Advocacy Day will be Monday, March 21, and we are encouraging youth programs to either send people to represent their organization or schedule a day trip with the youth they serve to tour the Capitol.
In conjunction with this day, we will also hold our annual chili cook-off for advocates and policymakers to have a fun lunch during this day of engaging lawmakers. Registration to attend Child Advocacy Day, set up a table to promote a youth organization, or even enter the chili cook-off for free can be found at https://oica. org/event/2022-child-advocacy chili-cookoff/. We also have event t-shirts if you cannot make it to the event, and sponsorship details are located on this link.
In addition, OICA regularly holds a Child Advocacy Luncheon to help raise awareness about issues and the legislation being discussed in Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C. This year, on Saturday, April 30, we are grateful to some of my hometown friends for organizing this and holding it at Rosewood Inn of Rush Springs, a boutique bed & breakfast renovated and opened for business by my friend Christa Porter. Thank you to Christi Woods, Tammy Filippo, and Mary Hill for joining in to help with this.
We also thank former Oklahoma Govs. George Nigh, David Walters, Frank Keating, Brad Henry, and Mary Fallin. These distinguished leaders joined OICA to hold a fundraiser for our Kid Governor program. This VIP event will be held in early May to raise programming funds to support this OICA initiative to help raise awareness of the role of elected officials and the power of the vote among the state’s el ementary school students.
The program also will provide a means for young Oklahomans to shape ideas on issues important to them and provide an opportunity to become Oklahoma’s Kid Governor. More details will be forthcoming on this event and the program.
To keep up-to-date on children’s issues and support our mission, please sign up on our website for our weekly newsletter on Thursdays. OICA members also receive an emailed Tuesday update on children’s issues.
We hope to see you Monday at Child Advocacy Day and the 2022 OICA Chili Cookoff!
About OICA: The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy was established in 1983 by a group of citizens seeking to create a strong advocacy network that would provide a voice for the needs of children and youth in Oklahoma, particularly those in the state’s care and those growing up amid poverty, violence, abuse and neglect, disparities, or other situations that put their lives and future at risk. Our mission statement: “Creating awareness, taking action, and changing policy to improve the health, safety, and