A program offering homeless Tulsans cash, a meal and referrals to social services for work like picking up trash in parks has made it through its first year.
A Better Way Director Kellie Wilson said they expected around 200 participants.
"Turns out, the need is much greater than that. Over the past year, we have had 802 participants in the A Better Way Program. Over the past year, we have helped 66 individuals attain secure, competitive, stable employment. And we have helped 14 participants achieve stable housing," Wilson said.
A Better Way van makes pick-ups three days a week, taking people to perform beautification work throughout the city. Steven Newman jumped on the Better Way van as a way not to fall behind after his work truck and a car he was working on were stolen in successive days.
Newman ended up with a permanent maintenance job with Mental Health Association Oklahoma.
"If they hadn’t have been there, it might have gotten bad. A year, six months ago, employment wasn’t as good as it now. You couldn’t just get jobs as easily," Newman said.
A Better Way also has partnerships with a variety of local employers. Wilson said Tulsack once hired six participants in one day.
A Better Way was inspired by an employment program of the same name in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mayor G.T. Bynum said Tulsa’s success proves that model works.
"We’ve now shown that cities all around America can take this program, plug it in in their cities and make a positive impact in the lives of the people that live there," Bynum said.
The City of Tulsa, Mental Health Association Oklahoma, Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy, Tulsa Area United Way, and the Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation collaborate on A Better Way.
