This session focuses on why prevention advocacy matters in communities of color, the difference between education and lobbying, and examples of how to advocate for change. Select the View Resource button above to watch the recording. Below are the supplemental materials for session 3.
Bailey Perkins is an experienced public policy advocate. She currently serves as the State Advocacy and Public Policy Director for Oklahoma Food Banks. Before working there she worked at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Oklahoma Policy Institute, and for the U.S. House of Representatives leading healthcare, education, nutrition, science, space, and technology policy initiatives for Congresswoman Kendra Horn in Washington, D.C. OKC Friday has ranked Bailey as the 16th most powerful young professionals in the Oklahoma City metro and selected her one of seven “Next Generation Most Powerful Oklahomans.” The Oklahoman featured her in its “21st Century Women” series as a woman making significant contributions and driving change in Oklahoma City.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Oklahoma City University She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Cyndi Munson graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and was awarded the Presidential Gold Medal for Leadership and Public Service. She used a semester of her undergraduate career to study non-profit and voluntary services at Georgetown University and then attended the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where she earned a Master of Science in Leadership Education.
Cyndi has spent over a decade working in the non-profit community. Passionate about public education and criminal justice reform, she most recently served OK Messages Project, a non-profit working to improve children’s lives through shared reading with their incarcerated parent, as the Development and Community Engagement Coordinator. Prior to joining OK Messages Project, she served in a variety of professional roles in her five years with Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma. Her insight helped to provide leadership programs for thousands of girls in low-income schools, juvenile detention centers, and public housing.
Elected in September of 2015, Cyndi became the first Asian-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Legislature. In December of 2018, she was elected by her Democratic colleagues as the House Democratic Caucus Chair for the 57th Legislature. She primarily focuses on issues pertaining to children, women, working families, public education, criminal and juvenile justice reform, election and voter reform, and Alzheimer’s.
