TULSA, Okla. — In a first of it's kind move, Mayor Monroe Nichols created the Mayor's Office of Children, Youth and Families.
“Long term, our goal is building a strong thriving economy," said Mayor Nichols. "We can’t do that unless we have a strong focus on children and youth.”
The motive behind something like this is simple, Nichols explained, meant to improve outcomes for children and families.
The goals set in place, just as ambitious as every other goal Tulsa's new leader is chasing.
Local News
Mayor-elect Monroe Nichols discusses new administration picks
"The primary goal is to put 15,000 more Tulsa children on a pathway to economic mobility by 2030," said Nichols. "It's ambitious, but it's certainly something we can do together."
Focuses of MOCYF
- Academic Excellence
- Housing
- Workforce Development
- Family Support Systems
Impact Tulsa will partner with the city, to bring their expertise in outcome tracking to the table.
Nichols also said it was important to have an outside entity included, to ensure that the work continued even if a successor stepped into the role of mayor and didn't prioritize the work.
“The Mayor's Office of Children Youth and Families is a necessary step forward, ensuring that we don’t just address symptoms, but we build the systems that support every child and family in Tulsa," said Executive Director Ashley Philippsen. "This is about ensuring that education, housing, workforce development and family support systems are coordinated, responsive and designed to remove barriers, not reinforce them.”
2 News asked if there was any pressure to open an office like this, with ongoing calls for reform and an investigation into the Oklahoma Department of Human Services — an already existing state office meant to protect families and children.
"Not necessarily," said the mayor. "The statement that we’re making is we’re going to take accountability for the young people in this community and we’re going to take it from an outcome standpoint and do everything that we have to do to get better outcomes for young people across Tulsa.”
A Tulsa Children's Cabinet will also be established to foster and coordinate efforts across agencies in the city.
This will help align the mission of non-profits, businesses, educators and other sectors of Tulsa to reach the goals set by this new office.
According to the city, the cabinet will also establish 'baseline goals and benchmarks for assessing the extent to which City agencies successfully strengthen their cooperation and collaboration in providing services to children, youth and families.'
Nichols said to get the office off the ground, the city has invested about a quarter of a million dollars and will rely on partnerships to keep the work going.
"We will be raising money with a lot of partners to fund the work over the next six years," he said. "As you heard, it’s fifteen thousand more children on the pathway to economic mobility by 2030, that’s going to take the effort of a lot of folks and we’re going to be raising private resources to make sure that that happens.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
