Opportunities for Investment Smart Start Central Oklahoma’s key activities* for expanding and enhancing the lives of many young children in Oklahoma County include: $24,000, or any portion thereof, to purchase “Read To Me,” gift packages for new parents. Each package includes a picture book, a bib and “Read To Me” educational materials for parents. This is a project of the Infant Early Literacy/Parent Education†team of Smart Start Central Oklahoma. $22,000 for a Parents As Teachers parent educator to serve various Oklahoma City Public Schools. $12,000 for part-time staff at a Parent/Family Resource Room during the school year (an application process is used for expansion of this project). $3,000-$5,000, or any portion thereof, to furnish materials for Parent Resource Rooms in elementary schools (an application process is used for expansion of this project); $250 for a mini-grant to train directors and staff at a Smart Start Central Oklahoma child care site to ensure they are well-prepared to provide early educational opportunities and to engage parents in their children’s care environment. $500 for a mini-grant to equip a Smart Start Central Oklahoma child care site with classroom materials and other items needed to meet the children’s educational needs and achieve the quality improvements necessary under Oklahoma’s Star rating scale. $3,000 per class for a ready-to-use classroom kit to implement Raising A Reader, a program to encourage parent-child bonding, early literacy, and parent education (an application process is used for expansion of this project). $1,000, or any portion thereof, for 300-500 books to give directly to children or to use in other literacy projects such as Reach Out and Read, Caring Van, and Smart Start Central Oklahoma sites and events. $12,000 to support technical assistance that will build community capacity, educate the local community partnership board and develop community leadership (an application process is used for expansion of this project). * Details on each project are available upon request.