Resilient Oklahoma movement aims to unite trauma‑informed and family‑support work across the state

Deborah Smith, chair of the Children's State Advisory Workgroup, and cross‑systems coordinator Tayvon Lewis told the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth on Sept. 1 that the workgroup is consolidating two prior efforts into a single initiative, Resilient Oklahoma, designed to strengthen family supports and reduce the impacts of trauma across the state.

Smith said the effort unites an earlier trauma‑informed work group and the Thriving Families/Safer Children initiative into one set of goals that center co‑design with families, equity of access, and collective impact across state agencies. Lewis outlined a four‑part strategy focused on coordinating systems and communities, raising community awareness about prevention and mitigation of trauma, building community capacity, and creating pathways for local collaboratives to elevate challenges to the state level.

The presenters said partners and agencies have contributed funds to launch initial strategies and deliverables; Lewis reported that the combined groups had secured roughly half a million dollars to support early activities. They also described a Resilient Oklahoma website under development to serve as a single resource hub, with presenters estimating a launch in the next one to two months as content is finalized.

Commissioners heard that the cross‑systems coordinator role — currently housed at Oklahoma State University — will transition to the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth (OCCY) as the effort becomes more embedded in state operations. Smith and Lewis said the move is intended to provide a more stable host for the position and to make it easier to coordinate across agencies. Staff and commissioners discussed scheduling follow‑up briefings so agency leadership and commissioners can examine implementation details and suggest additional strategies.

Next steps: staff said they will schedule follow‑up meetings with agency leaders to review implementation plans and to present a fuller briefing to the commission. The website and outreach tools will be rolled out first so community collaboratives can register and request technical assistance.