Erin Lamey is the KIDS COUNT/Research Director for the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. KIDS COUNT is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, dedicated to tracking child well-being.

Many young people entering Oklahoma’s workforce year-after-year are unprepared for the challenges that life in the “real world” brings. In fact, one out of four workforce-aged adults in Oklahoma lack the basic skills needed to succeed in an occupational training course or knowledge-based job. This is troublesome to Oklahoma employers seeking to recruit and retain qualified applicants. Employers want employees who are productive and require little supervision.

Oklahoma KIDS COUNT released a new issue brief today that discusses strategies to improve workforce development. We have highlighted four areas that research shows to be most effective in workforce development. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re pleased to call your attention to two events that are coming up next week that should be of interest to many Oklahomans.

The 35th Annual Oklahoma Conference on Aging, “The Art of Aging,” will convene May 18-20, 2010 at the Tulsa Southern Hills Marriott. With more than 60 concurrent lectures and three plenary sessions, the conference draws attendees from across the state. Tuesday, May 18 is Senior Day and free to anyone age 60 and older. Dr. Jean Root will discuss “Optimal Aging” during her keynote address. Wednesday and Thursday, May 19-20, are programmed for professionals in the field of aging and cover a wide variety of subjects. The conference’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of Eden Alternative and the Green House project. Dr. Thomas is an internationally renowned expert on long-term care and will be presenting on May 19 at 8:30 a.m. For more information about the conference, or to register, go to the conference website or call 405-521-2281.

Anyone interested in the subject of child well-being should take note of a lecture on Friday, May 21st by Dr. Charles Wilson titled “Impacts of Childhood Trauma  – What to Do About It”. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place from noon to 1 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zundi Drive in Oklahoma City. It is the final event in the excellent Practice and Policy spring lecture series that has been organized jointly by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Wilson  is the Executive Director of the Chadwick Center for Children and Families and the Sam and Rose Stein Endowed Chair in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital in San Diego where he oversees a large multi-service child and family maltreatment organization providing prevention, intervention, medical assessment, and trauma treatment services along with professional education, and research. He has an extensive background in public child protection, including serving as past President of the American Professional Society on Abuse of Children and past Vice President of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators.

For advocates, policymakers, and the general public, having access to reliable data is among the essential building blocks of informed discussion and debate. Last week at the Fall Forum event of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA), participants were introduced to the new KIDS COUNT data center, a great online resource that should help guide policy discussions and decisions in Oklahoma on a whole range of issues over the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »