The complex picture of Oklahoma's Civic Health Index reects a snapshot of both the strengths and weaknesses of our state. So where do we go from here? This report provides every Oklahoman with both a greater understanding of what we value and an opportunity to evaluate what each of us can do to increase the health and well–being of our communities. It encourages us to celebrate the strength of our unique heritage and collective nature. It also invites us to energize our efforts to enact unique solutions for weaknesses we deem important to our future health.

THE UNIQUE HERITAGE OF OKLAHOMA
Our strengths can be characterized as a unique mixture of erce independence and care for others. Our history as a state reects a distinct blend of tribal governments, farm families, and the entrepreneurial spirit of Oklahoma industry. These strengths can be mobilized to address the issues that we nd the collective will to change. Our tendency to be connected on a family level provides an excellent model of membership and leadership in local and state groups which endeavor to solve the problems of the everyday lives of each member of its family, our community.

EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS
At the local and community level, Oklahoma serves as a model for other states in our efforts to improve educational outcomes including those directed at early childhood development, such as state–funded pre–K, and those directed at college accessibility and completion, such as the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education's Brain Gain 2010 and Oklahoma Promise. We can also adopt programs that reect positive changes we see in our neighboring states and across the nation. We can borrow models of successful investment in education to ensure we no longer struggle to pay and retain the teachers and other professionals we so skillfully train. We can decrease class size and increase student competencies so college or trade school dreams can be realized. We can increase college retention and graduation rates. We can empower our educational system to provide the environment for each child and each adult to be a fully engaged citizen of our state and nation.

HEALTH CARE ASPIRATIONS
Oklahoma is a leader in developmental and health screenings of infants. We can also be proud of and use as a model the comprehensive system of care that provides equal access to all members of the Native American population. Despite these strengths, we have serious problems with the uninsured and underinsured as they lack access to medical care, mental health services, and prevention and wellness promotion. Children, the elderly, and the poor are the most vulnerable parts of our community family but have been silently left out of the health care system. We now recognize that they deserve to be part of a comprehensive system that cares for everyone. In addition, we recognize that the cost of health care for all of us is negatively impacted by the inefcient and costly use of emergency rooms for routine health concerns. We cannot afford to let funding for new and well–established programs that increase the health and well–being of most Oklahomans be cut when we work so hard to promote the financial tness of our business industry. We can strive to nd a balance between the needs of industry and of all individuals if we have the desire for all our community family members to benet from living in Oklahoma.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ASPIRATIONS
We can maximize those interpersonal ties to include a broader range of interest and knowledge in social and political issues. People of our state gather to be connected at the dinner table, at coffee shops, co–ops, and sporting events. They share information and opinions. Why not use these venues to infuse the conversations with information from various news sources so opinions and decisions are based on data rather than the most impressive or powerful member of the group? This may also result in empowering the people of Oklahoma to increase participation in local groups, voter registration rates, knowledge of issues, and voter turnout for concerns that range from the backyard to the boardroom.

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ASPIRATIONS
Our state has demonstrated the ability to transform our major metropolitan areas into places where industry prospers and Oklahomans can explore and enjoy large–scale events and beautiful cityscapes as in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Why not also transform these successes into efforts to build the communities of rural Oklahomans so that they, too, may prosper and feel they are a part of both the heart and soul of our state? Efforts such as these will benet our society by greatly reducing the need to address poverty, drug use, teen pregnancy, homelessness, gang violence, health care inequality, failing schools, and a disenfranchised populace. There is no single solution to these necessary changes and there is not one single group who can make these changes. Rather, it will be the will and effort of all people on multiple levels deciding as a state that we are determined to be heard, be engaged, be inclusive, and be energized to make a difference in our state and in our own backyard.

LEADERSHIP ASPIRATIONS
Elected leadership in Oklahoma does a great job of talking about and promoting issues during elections. Unfortunately, very little of that information or follow–through trickles down to the average citizen once elections are over. This leads to low levels of engagement and loss of potential talent that could come from our community family. Greater involvement at all levels could reverse the trend in Oklahoma for elected seats to go unchallenged. Oklahoma has incorporated civic engagement efforts at the college and leadership levels, such as the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, Campus Compact, and the American Democracy Project. Why not expand those efforts by providing easy access to local and state government, by promoting and rewarding educators who infuse the educational experiences of our children with the knowledge and skills needed to be an informed and engaged citizen? This provides an avenue for translating K–12 reading, writing, and arithmetic into a useful application for an energized, nancially secure, and socially responsible life as an adult.

Does an engaged and educated populace pose a threat? Certainly this is true. As the population becomes more informed and empowered, the rhetoric of the extremists is subdued and diffused. Radicalism and hate cannot thrive in an environment where people have learned to think for themselves and act in ways that benet the greater good, not just the individual or the interest group. Do some people fear an engaged and informed citizenry? Absolutely, because people are less likely to follow blindly when they are informed and engaged. We must each decide to dedicate at least a small effort to promoting the engagement of ourselves and others in this remarkable process. Let's use this report as the impetus for positive change, for increased engagement and understanding, and for the wisdom and leadership potential that each person has to enact a better life for all Oklahomans.

Civic engagement has the potential to empower each citizen to take on the personal responsibility to assist, inform, engage, and energize our friends, neighbors, family, community, educational system, government agencies, and political system to do the will of the ercely independent, yet uncommonly compassionate Oklahoma spirit.