Why Equity Matters.

The words diversity, equity and inclusion have been more widely used in the past few years than ever before, which is a very good thing. Each of these words has important meaning, but the action associated with them is what is most important. Equity is often mistaken for equality but has some key differences. Equity takes into account where a student starts (knowing that many students do not start with the same resources) and builds supports around every student to be sure they start from the same place.

The Oklahoma City Public Schools district is committed to equity and has a standing equity policy. It is the lens in which they make their decisions, always with students in mind. Equity and the associated action taken to provide all students with opportunities for success is also what drives Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation and is part of everything we do.

Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation has a long history supporting our schools and advocating for equitable opportunities has been part of our work since the beginning. Our strategic alignment with the school district over the past years has created an even more targeted approach to equity.

Our focus areas each have developed programs and initiatives that build equity for our students:

• Provide Innovative Teacher/Classroom/School Support;
• Support Efforts to Recruit and Retain Urban Ready Teachers;
• Build Advocates for Oklahoma City Public Schools

Details about each focus area and corresponding programming are within this website. We encourage you to learn more and to find ways to engage with us as a community partner through your time, talent and treasure.

We also hope you enjoy our new website and accompanying branding.  We’ve worked to stay true to our mission and core values and used them as the platform for developing a new look and feel. This more modern look still takes into account where we’ve come from and acknowledging the important work still to do.

Our schools can’t do it alone. Please help us with our mission to advance excellence, advocate for equity and build a culture of strong community support for Oklahoma City Public Schools.