OKLAHOMA CITY – On Monday, February 3, Gov. Kevin Stitt delivered his annual “State of the State” address to the members of the Oklahoma Legislature and the entire state, which coincides with the opening of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature.

The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA) concluded our 2025 Legislative Learning Lab by hosting those registered attendees on a Zoom to watch the speech, followed by commentary. This dialogue was set up by OICA for those who are not normally engaged in the process so they could network and hear the thoughts of those impacted by the suggested policies.

The Legislative Learning Lab began Wednesday, January 29 and continued Thursday, January 30 with approximately 130 people attending. The conversations with experts in different areas of how state government functions provided insider insight into how the roles work together for our state, along with each offering input with how citizens can better engage. The professionals from different nonprofits and businesses actively listened, asking good questions which kept the conference lively through the two full days at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits.

OICA is grateful to the Cherokee Nation and the Onward Oklahoma Foundation for their support to see this conference happen.

Each speaker emphasized how it is important to meet your own state senator and representative, and to offer yourself as a resource expert in your field which can provide that lived experience perspective. Whether it be your profession, or your experience in some role such as maybe a foster parent, each person has something which can be shared that will help lawmakers do their jobs better.

When we all engage, whether it be voting, volunteering on campaigns, or serving as a resource for an official, that is how we see better outcomes for our state overall. I do believe that most, if not all, of those who joined us for the Legislative Learning Lab left the conference feeling empowered to get more involved in policy work.

Many Oklahomans are worried about certain bills which are receiving attention, but if we mobilize and share input, many negative ideas will not proceed. It does take that first step with engaging though In the next few weeks, OICA will post several of the panel conversations online, both on our website at oica. org and on our YouTube channel, for people to watch again or to see for the first time.

Additionally, on Monday, OICA held the inauguration for the 2025 Kid Governor of Oklahoma. Emma Stephens of Ardmore was selected to hold this role over the year.

Shawn Ferrell of Orlando is the new Kid Lieutenant Governor. Six other students, Lawson Ream of Alva, Clayton Rohla of Roff, Ryan Young of Chickasha, Koda White of Vici, Alburto Harmon of Perry, and Harper Witt of Antlers, will complete the cabinet for the Kid Governor this year, with each presenting issues important to youth at different civic organizations around the state.

OICA was pleased to work with Oklahoma 4-H to see this program continue and we hope this will also expand back into 5th grade classrooms in the fall months of this year. If you have a civic organization that would like to hear from one of these young leaders, please reach out to Renee Herrman with OICA at rherrman@ oica.org or at (405) 2365437. We are excited about what each of these young leaders will do to elevate youth advocacy.

As we move forward with the session, OICA will continue to update you about different policies as they are presented by lawmakers through this column and with our weekly email newsletter. Thank you for reading this column and let’s work together to see better for the children of Oklahoma in 2025.