The 20K House: From Research Project to Product

A previous blogger, Diama Norris, first wrote about the 20K House Project on our blog back in 2009. The idea behind the project is the creation of affordable housing which serves as an alternative to mobile homes and expands homeownership among low-income individuals. The idea is as appealing now as it was when Diama first discussed it over 5 years ago.

Rural Studio is the program behind the 20K House project. They are an undergraduate program of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at Auburn University. Rural Studio is celebrating its 20^th anniversary and has much to show for it. Over the past two decades they have provided practical experiences for students who design and build projects benefiting underserved populations in rural Alabama.

The 20K House Project itself began in 2005, and has produced 12 versions of the 20K house. Each version was given away to residents in need who reside in and around Hale County. Now efforts are underway to take what Rural Studies has learned through this hands-on research project and create a marketable product. This will

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2014 CAP Tulsa Free Tax Prep Changes

The 2014 Tax Season will soon be in full swing.  This year there have been changes to CAP Tulsa’s Tax program, and we wanted raise awareness so Tulsans can easily find volunteer tax sites and other resources.

Beginning with the 2014 tax preparation season, CAP Tulsa will no longer offer free tax preparation publicly to Tulsa families. The CAP Tax service will only be available to families participating in other CAP Tulsa services, including its early childhood education program and those who live in the Eugene Field and Kendall Whittier Neighborhoods in conjunction with our Neighborhood Revitalization initiative.

The Tulsa Area United Way has been working with CAP Tulsa to garner interest from other Tulsa agencies, with the long-term goal of building a coalition in Tulsa to continue offering this vital service.

For the 2013 filing season, the United Way has been successful in locating agencies to host tax sites open to the public. Anyone seeking assistance for free tax preparation in 2014 can call the Tulsa Area United Way helpline at 2-1-1 or visit http://www.211oklahomahelpline.org/to find tax websites or options near you.

Anyone who is interested in filing their own tax return online can do so by visiting

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Helping the Underfed in America: Conversations about “A Place At the Table”

I last blogged about the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma in September as part of Hunger Action Month.  At the time, local restaurants were helping the food bank raise money for their Food for Kids program.  Now, the food bank is sponsoring a movie screening to raise awareness about American’s underfed families. The screening will feature a new documentary called A Place at the Table.  The film, brought to us by the people responsible for Food, Inc. (2006), combines the stories of real people with commentary from experts on hunger and nutrition.  The film’s creators, as well as groups around the country, are hoping the film will spark a nationwide conversation about how to end hunger for nearly 50 million Americans.

Starting an honest conversation is important, because there is an ongoing problem with misconceptions and misinformation when it comes to hunger in America.  Proponents of food programs are constantly trying to set the record straight. In February, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities discredited many of the details behind recent efforts to incorrectly portray safety net programs as wasteful spending.  OKPolicy Blog just discussed how an Oklahoma proposal to increase work requirements for SNAP recipients would penalize underemployed Oklahomans. (SNAP is the program formerly known as food stamps).  OKPolicy rightly pointed out that many

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When I see Pink Ribbons, I think Poverty

We know it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, because pink ribbons abound and players are wearing pink shoes on Monday Night Football. The byword is, of course, awareness, but that leads me to wonder what aspect of the issue we should focus on.  Besides the importance of early detection, what else should Americans be aware of, given the fact that breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths for women in the United States? Perhaps a greater emphasis should be put on access to care, nutrition and the link between poverty and survival rates.

Since 1975, breast cancer survival rates have been increasing, but there is a disparity of outcomes tied to demographics.  The American Cancer Society’s Breast Cancer Facts and Figures: 2011 – 2012, tells us that poverty and lack of health insurance are associated with higher mortality rates.  We know that early detection is vital to long-term survival, but lack of resources and insurance means many women go without recommended screenings.

Another concern is the disparity in medical treatment after diagnosis for patients with lower-income, as well as the presence of additional health issues, which brings us again to the issue of insurance coverage. These are crucial barriers to overcome, yet there is more to it than just income and insurance, as recent research is finding nutrition to be another important component.

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Tulsa’s Promise Neighborhoods: Moving Towards Cradle-to-Career Services

Good news continues to roll in for the Kendall-Whittier and Eugene Field Neighborhoods.  Last December, CAP received a $500,000 Promise Neighborhood planning grant to focus on revitalization in both communities. The inspiration for Promise Neighborhoods is based on the successful model of New York City’s Harlem Children’s Zone, a program featured in Waiting for Superman and various other media. These grants fund programs in high poverty neighborhoods which have a proven capacity to build partnerships and possess the necessary systems to track kids through school, so no one falls through the cracks.

This week, the Tulsa World reported that Tulsa Public Schools pledged to provide longitudinal data to track Kendall-Whittier and Eugene Field students as they progress through school.  This collaboration also includes a pledge to join with other partners in efforts to reform educational strategies. Taken together, this means CAP is in a better position to compete for a $7 million dollar grant to provide cradle-to-career services to children in the Eugene Field and Kendall-Whittier neighborhoods.

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2011 Summer Food Options in Tulsa

Yesterday was the last day of school for thousands of Tulsa Public Schools students.  No doubt a day many have been looking forward to since the first day of school in August.  But for some, summer is a difficult time because they no longer have the security of free or reduced meals at school.  The Summer Food Service is a federal program to meet the needs of these families.  At Summer Food Service sites any person under 18 can get a free, nutritious meal with no applications or commitments.  Many sites also offer free or low-cost summer activities for kids, such as reading, movies, sports, computer labs, arts & crafts, and field trips. 

Tulsa Public Schools’ summer food program has been rebranded this year as Summer Cafe.  In 2010, the Summer Café served over 53,332 breakfasts, 103,225 lunches and 25,526 afternoon snacks.  This year the program will be offered at more than 70 sites across Tulsa.  The sites are not just schools; they are churches, community centers, apartment complexes, and summer camps.  To find the site closest to you, click here.   

Tulsa Public Schools is not the only provider of the Summer Food Service in the area though.  Other Tulsa area summer food sites include:

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Congratulations!

I would like to take a few moments to share some good news with our loyal readers.  As many of you know, CAP’s CareerAdvance  is an awesome program that helps the parent’s of children in our early childhood education program move into nursing careers that provide a family sustaining wage. 

Thanks to the hard work of Monica, Micah, Tanya, and everyone else associated with CareerAdvance, CAP has been awarded a sizeable grant by the Department of Health and Human Services to expand and continue the program. 

To read the Tulsa World article about the grant, click here.

To learn more about CareerAdvance, click here.

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Tulsa World Shines a Light on Healthy Women, Healthy Futures

The Tulsa World recently published an excellent article about Healthy Women, Healthy Futures (HWHF), which is an interconception health promotion program serving women in Tulsa.  CAP in conjunction with the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa College of Nursing and the George Kaiser Family Foundation launched the program to improve the physical, emotional, social, dental, and vision health of non-pregnant women living in poverty in order to reduce premature births and infant mortality.  The program is available to women with children enrolled at Frost, McClure, Skelly, and Educare I and who are able to become pregnant but not currently pregnant.  Nearly 100 women are currently participating in the program.  Classes offered throughout the course of the program include the benefits of exercise, cardiovascular wellness, diabetes prevention, nutrition, healthy shopping and cooking, pregnancy plan development, yoga, zumba, and many others.  In addition to the classes listed, HWHF and Partners provide:

• No or low-cost on-going basic health care at the centers’ school based clinics
• An individualized health plan, developed with participants, to prevent or manage chronic illnesses
• Support and assistance in women’s interconception health by a Health Navigator (case manager)
• No cost vision exams and glasses, if needed
• Medicines at no cost
• Dental care
• Counseling for mental health issues
• RNs and Health Navigators act as wellness coaches to support women with their health plans

To read the Tulsa World article, including some staggering statistics about women, pregnancy, and poverty in Tulsa and Oklahoma, click here.

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Fablab in KW Neighborhood

So, awhile back we posted about our experience at the Boston Fablab and how we might work to bring one to Tulsa. Well, fast forward and Kendall Whittier Inc is seriously pursuing the idea of putting one in the KW neighborhood. There will be a community presentation on Oct 5 at 7pm at Educare at 2511 E. 5th Pl. Please join us if you can make it, Micah and I will be there in a supporting role to share our experiences and help answer any questions about what this could do for the KW community and potentially Tulsa. The Tulsa World did a piece on it in yesterday’s paper. Check it out!

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PLANiTulsa Releases Draft Plan

Yesterday evening, PLANiTulsa officially released a draft of  Tulsa’s vision and planning for the future. As many of you are aware, Tulsans have spent the last year attending planning sessions through PLANiTulsa and helping to guide and provide input towards Tulsa’s future. Micah and I have written past blogs on the subject which I encourage you to read if you click on the Planitulsa tag.

To download the report go to http://www.planitulsa.org/. There will also be a presentation of the plan at an open house. See below. Hope to see you there! You can’t afford not to care.

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Drop in anytime between 4:30pm and 8:00pm
Presentation on Draft Vision/Small Area Concepts at 5:30pm and 7:00pm
Greenwood Cultural Center
322 N Greenwood Ave
Tulsa, OK 74120

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