That’s a Wrap

After 6 years and 400 posts, the Tulsa Initiative blog is calling it a wrap. We here at CAP Tulsa first dipped our toe in the water of social media through this blog, with the goal of building a community of readers interested in the things we were interested in – early childhood education; anti-poverty policy; food insecurity; workforce development; innovation; and others. It was part of a larger idea that a “Tulsa Initiative” could be built that would support Tulsa’s vulnerable children, and their families, from early education through high school graduation and beyond.

While “the Tulsa Initiative” did not come to full fruition, CAP Tulsa helped launch a neighborhood and community-based comprehensive development project called Growing Together in two Tulsa neighborhoods.  The Innovation Lab at CAP Tulsa, which has staffed this blog, helped build CareerAdvance, an innovative two-generation strategy at CAP that helps parents build careers and provide stable economic footing to support their children’s development. And CAP Tulsa embraced social media and is now on Facebook and Twitter.

Meanwhile, lots of great organizations continued to produce and distribute lots of great work – much of which we have posted to this site. We feel confident we will not be leaving too big of a hole in the blogosphere.

We thank you for reading and supporting us. Please do continue to stay connected to the work of CAP Tulsa through our website www.captulsa.org or our Facebook page.

 

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Time to Say Goodbye: Tonya’s Last Post

It has been just a little over two years since I took over the Tulsa Initiative Blog. One of my first assignments was writing a blog post introducing myself to you, the readers. Now, one of my last assignments is to write a post to say goodbye.

It is time to start the next chapter in my life, and so in a few days I will begin a one year LLM (legal masters) program in Energy and Natural Resources.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed a guest blog and helped us keep the topics fresh. I would also like to thank everyone for their thoughts, ideas, insights and encouragement. My time at CAP Tulsa was rewarding and I’ll carry this experience with me as I move forward.

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Oklahoma’s Kids are At High Risk for Toxic Stress

“Toxic stress” has come up before in previous posts. It can occur when children are exposed to severe, frequent or prolonged traumatic experiences. Researchers refer to these events as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

When kids lack caring, protective relationships with caregivers, the stress response associated with adverse experiences can disrupt normal brain development. And the cumulative effect of toxic stress can take a toll on a person’s physical and mental health, not just in childhood but throughout life.

Toxic stress during childhood is linked it to unhealthy lifestyles later in life, such as using alcohol to cope with stress, tobacco use, and illicit drug use. A Pediatrics article also states that the “biological manifestations of toxic stress” can cause impairment of the immune system and increase risk factors for heart disease, asthma, and other health problems.

A new Child Trends report shows Oklahoma children to be especially at risk for exposure to

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