Thank you very much.

Good evening, everyone.

I have a brief announcement to make everybody aware that we currently do not have a quorum available.

So we will not be able to take action on the minutes from our previous meeting, nor will we officially call to order or adjourn since it will be an informal meeting.

But since we do have representatives here to give us an update and we have some people who may have questions to respect everybody else's time, we're going to go ahead and hear the update and entertain questions during this informal meeting.

So with that, I'd like to thank everyone who has been able to make it here and join us this evening.

And I will start off with introductions on my left.

Michelle Nada, District 3.

And I'm Scottis Gordson.

I'm from District 2.

Anyhow, with that, I thank you all.

And we will be jumping right into the quarterly update.

If we can have France Administration, thank you very much.

Good afternoon.

This is our quarterly update, which we haven't done in a while.

On the agenda for tonight, we have where we are, our PY 25 spending to date, the PY26 allocation amounts, a project highlight for PY26, some current challenges that grants administration is facing, and uh a little snippet about our upcoming needs assessment, and we'll have some question and answers at the end.

Where we are, the FY26 HUD income limits have been released.

The PY26 annual action plan has been submitted and is awaiting HUD review.

The PY 26 will begin officially July 1st.

We are currently waiting on the PY 26 grant agreements.

The needs assessment public hearing is July 9th at 5 p.m.

And the CAPER public hearing will be September 10th at 5 p.m.

These are the PY 25 expenditures to date so far.

You can take a moment to look at those.

Were approved during the allocation meetings direct where the additional funds will be utilized.

These are the project changes as outlined in the contingencies.

CAP submitted a proposal for a program that differs from projects funded in recent years.

Drew France with CAP is here to provide an overview of the PY 26 housing stability program.

Hey, good afternoon.

I am Drew France.

I live in District 1, and I am the Senior Director of Strategic Strategic Planning and Community Partnerships at CAP Tulsa Community Action Project.

And we are an anti-poverty agency, and long ago we decided to stop doing a little bit of everything and double down on one strategy, and that's high quality early childhood education in combination with supports for the parents and caregivers of children.

So today we operate nine large preschools across the city.

We enroll about 1700 children under the age of five into full day year-round services as we prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.

I'll tell you that for the first 14 years that I was at CAP, our organization paid very little rent of the families we served.

We really didn't have the resources to do that.

And honestly, I think the need for housing support was probably less when I started the work.

Then came the pandemic, and for the first time we had a wealth of one-time resources bestowed upon us.

And both directly and through partnerships, we began for the first time paying lots of rent.

We were staving off a lot of evictions, we were helping stabilize families' housing situations and also paying utility disconnections to help the families we serve survive the pandemic.

As those resources expired, we have been recalibrating.

And really the change of the city and the HUDs locally, their focus to really, instead of investing kind of widely across all the community and to really double down on housing has coincided nicely with our shift as we uh through partnership have begun a housing stability program in this sort of post-pandemic new normal.

So really thanks to the United Way and an organization they partner with called the Seymour Institute, we for since 2023 have been taking uh really private resources from United Way and uh supporting uh families with a focus on decreasing student mobility.

We know that when families in poverty are moving around due to um you know maybe lapses of their ability to pay rent if they're their couch surfing or living with family members, we know how hard that is on the family and specifically how hard that is on children and their outcomes.

So we we in partnership want to really minimize the number of moves and unplanned moves their family of young children is making during the school year.

Uh so through that partnership, we have funded a family coach, and that coach works directly with families to help them uh navigate their situation.

Sometimes that's supporting them to eviction court and helping them pay that that rent that might have lapsed.

Other times it's uh connecting them to partners such as Tulsa Responds to make sure they're getting access to the benefits they they may be entitled to, such as SNAP, to child care subsidies, and to Medicaid if they're eligible.

Uh, we also want to uh connect our families to things like the financial empowerment center so that they can make sure they're doing everything in their power to stabilize the income in the household.

And then more recently we've been working with Tulsa Public Schools and others uh to connect families to what is known as the hub at East Central Middle, where there's an array of legal services and other support.

So when families are threatened with housing instability, they have a network of community supporters that can meet them where they're at.

We don't actually use HUD funds to pay rent.

We use private dollars to actually pay uh rent in situations that families are eligible, but we definitely need the staffing support uh through the HUD process.

So, as was mentioned for years, we have come to you with educational programs and asked you to invest in our high quality early education, and while we value those investments, we also support your focus lately to think about how we can stabilize housing, and we're proud to be a recipient of this first year of funding for for our housing stability program.

And I'm happy to answer any questions, but we hope to I think we will commit to 50 households that will stabilize through your support.

And how successful do you think that your program is?

I think in the short term it's very successful.

There are literally 50 families a year that might have otherwise been evicted.

Uh, we know we typically ask to see the eviction notice, and we we want to document that they're kind of on that cusp of losing their housing.

And that feels very satisfying.

And you know, when families are kind of on that brink of of trouble, one crisis, that broken car, that missed payment can really send them over the edge, and it's just devastating for all involved, particularly children.

So I'll tell you candidly, in the short term, I feel very confident.

In the long term, I'm sometimes concerned that it's not enough.

We need families that are making more in terms of wages.

Uh we need families that are uh having access to safe and affordable uh homes and neighborhoods that they can live in.

And I think our community collectively has a long way to go to make sure we're setting up uh a situation in which families can be successful not month to month but long term.

And uh I I sometimes uh, you know, I know we can we can sort of buy time for families, but I think it's gonna take a lot more effort and a lot more energy for all of us to really position families to be successful long term.

You mentioned that they need more income.

I sincerely hope that you would take major action to let them know that their vote counts and that on the ballot will be um about raising the middle uh the weight income, the minimum weight.

Yeah, no, you're speaking my language.

Uh, we know this is uh quite a year in terms of all the things on the ballots in June and August and in November, whether that's Medicaid or minimum wage, a number of issues that are very important for Oklahomans to consider about the type of community we want to build.

And uh we we do not tell people how to vote, but we definitely want to make sure that people understand their opportunities to register and where their polling locations are, and we want to make sure that everyone exercises their right to vote and hopefully build a better Oklahoma.

Um this has nothing to do with you, but why are we having two elections?

One in June and one in August, seems like a waste of money.

And one in November.

Uh, that's above my pay grade.

But uh a lot a lot comes out of the statehouse and some some different uh rules in place there and then some strategy, I think about why you know they kind of predict turnout and certain ballots they want low turnout and some they want high turnout.

But um yeah, I don't know.

It seems awfully, it seems like it takes a very savvy voter to navigate the everything that's on the ballast this year.

Well, I I believe for clarity's sake, since you bring up the question as to why there are multiple elections being held.

We have a primary process, and from that primary process, if nobody wins 51% of the vote in the primary, then the top two contenders go into what's called a runoff.

That runoff obviously must be conducted prior to the general election, which would be the August election.

And so that's why you have two different dates that are required for that, and then you have the November election for the general election.

So there's a very clear, consistent reason as to why there are multiple elections and are required to maintain our democratic system under which we operate.

I also will point out that the uh minimum wage increase, if that goes forward, most of the benefits that um lower income people uh partake in are means tested.

So as their income goes up, the benefits decline.

And sometimes it's quite substantial, sometimes in excess of the amount by which the income increases.

And so therefore, people should be very careful about the fact that if the minimum wage and they are on that minimum wage, which is a tiny sliver of the population, um, goes up.

The people who have those jobs are prone to losing them, number one, to automation, and number two, if they don't lose their job and their wages go up, they may lose benefits that are more valuable to them than the increase in income.

Just to make sure that there's a more fulsome discussion on the issue.

Which means the system needs to be improved, my statement.

That's a gospel according to Tracy, but it's needs to be.

I would agree.

I I think that people should be able to support themselves without the government paying for everything.

I'm not touching any of this.

Probably a good idea.

The concern of the cliff effect is something you know, I've been in this field a long time.

The Cliff effect that you describe is real.

At the same time, Oklahoma out of necessity is lowering the income thresholds for for subsidies and SNAP and work requirements.

There's a lot of moving pieces, and it's it's hard out there.

So I just hope that we thoughtfully and in a fiscally sound way build a community in which all children can thrive, and that's what I'm trying to do every year.

Exactly.

So you're talking about all children thriving.

Uh how successful are you in the area of education?

I think we're world class.

Uh today we had a gentleman from Harvard named Raj Chetty who spoke to several community leaders at the Hyatt down the street, and um that that wasn't by accident.

That's because Tulsa invests in early childhood education like no other community.

Uh we have four educators.

I don't know of a state that has four educators, so we're a city that has four and a state that has five, and that's through the leadership of people like George Kaiser and others that have decided to put their money where their mouth is and make investment in children.

So things happen in Tulsa in the early childhood space that don't happen anywhere else.

And folks at Georgetown have been studying what happens to children that have a high quality pre-K experience versus those that don't.

And over 20 plus years, we know that kids that get an early intervention are less likely to be absent in school, they're they're less likely to be retained, they're more likely to do better in math, they're more likely to graduate from high school and even be civically engaged and registered and vote.

So I think external objective reviews of the work in Tulsa over the long term suggest that you either you pay now or you pay later, and I appreciate this community wanting to pay and investing in children as early as possible.

That's all that I have.

Thank you.

I'd like to ask about the families that are served.

Uh estimated serve 50 households.

Um how do you select?

I mean, are there some that have to come back more than once?

Um, you know, uh is there a waiting list?

I mean, that's a great question.

I should have covered that.

So every part of our model is that every family is assigned a specific family support advocate, so they get that sort of trusting warm relationship, and we believe every family shows up with unique strengths and needs and goals, and they get to define what success means.

So through that relationship with their family support advocate, that sometimes will bring to light a need.

And I'll tell you a lot of families are very prideful, and they don't start with that.

You got to build that trust or they're gonna be vulnerable and tell you that they're struggling to make rent that month.

But it's through that process that they then work with the family coach and identify: hey, we got a family that's really at risk of eviction.

And you know, we don't want to pay the entire rent if we can stack some things together, but it's through that process we have a set budget for the year about how much we can afford.

And it's not just rent, it's mattresses, it's groceries, it's fuel, it's it's health care.

Uh and we try and be judicious in the funds we have.

Uh and at the end of the year we tend to run out, and and that's when you call it a waiting list.

I'll say that's where we're not able to help, but we try and sort of spread that out thoughtfully over the year and really uh triage the most extreme cases where we really know families are gonna be on the street if we don't provide the support.

Thank you.

Back on to the question relative to education.

Um, I know there's a lot of emphasis around reading preparedness, and people are really trying to highlight the the I'd say failure in Oklahoma on our reading efforts that have uh developed.

Um in terms of the stability of education for students that are lower income and moving around from teacher to teacher, therefore the teacher isn't fully informed about that student's capability and they aren't necessarily as um connected to that student.

Is in trying to minimize mobility.

Is there any look at whether maybe the the school district structure it maybe contributes to that?

Like if you had maybe a single uh kindergarten class in one location or kindergarten through third grade, so that all students in Tulsa went to the same location.

So if the people were moving around within Tulsa, that the student would still at least be going to the same location, be able to stay at the same school.

It does, you know, alter the fact of neighborhood schools that I know is also a popular concept, but for consistency of education, has that been looked at just since I presume you might have some information on this type of subject.

Um, well, first let me say this.

This sort of Mississippi miracle that we're trying to emulate and understand what has happened in other states.

Um, a lot of that work, A came with dollars to really invest in the systems that you're describing to be effective, and it also started a lot earlier.

And we believe that our work is fundamental to pre-literacy, that we're setting kids up for that success in kindergarten all the way to third grade, and I think the other reality is a lot of dual language learners or English as a second language, and it's tough enough in a first language, it's it's very hard in a second language.

Uh, I think your your your observation is is uh in some ways makes a lot of sense for people that could get to a high quality, consistent location.

I think in some ways it may not be practical.

I would say do both.

I think we need to make sure there's a well-compensated, highly trained, effective teacher in every school, no matter where that school is, and we need to make sure there's not such a difference in schools in the same school district.

And we know that even in TPS, which I'm a huge fan of, there's vast differences in the quality of the experience at different schools, and it shouldn't be like that.

It should be no matter where you live and no matter where you go to public school, you should have a high quality experience, and we're just not there.

So I think it's some some of what you describe uh building a continuity in a pipeline that that yields the same outcome, but also making sure we don't have these underinvested sort of islands where kids aren't successful and we're not doing something aggressively to make sure that we're changing the conditions.

Thank you.

Hopefully, TPS invests relatively equitably across their entire spectrum of schools, and I would hope that they are taking and making sure that they are not treating different schools differently, and that that would be unfortunate if that's occurring.

I think so it's uh the family needs change.

Uh so you have schools where the families may be um have a greater level of need than others, uh so it it's a combination of all those things.

I I you know, someone that supports TPS in a number of ways.

I know they're doing the best they can, and and I really think there's an amount of investment that it's gonna take to seriously change his outcomes.

But I'm I'm cautiously optimistic that that we can continue to move forward.

One of the challenges that came around with that investment previously is I recall the the issue around reading standards got a lot of negative publicity at one point because it was viewed as teaching to the test, and because the accountability, you had a hard cutoff third grade, you didn't progress if you were not reading it at uh acceptable standards, and there was a pushback against holding the children back, and also against holding the schools accountable for meeting those standards, and that's why it got removed in Oklahoma, and correctly to your point, it's been maintained in Mississippi and well-funded, well supported because the accountability is present, and teachers and the children both are held to those expectations.

Is that the position of CAP?

Is that we should have those standards and hold everybody accountable?

Are you going to touch that one?

We know that we're handing kids off at kindergarten that are as reaching their full developmental potential and that it's a lot of hard work that happens all the way to third grade.

Um I think we all agree, no matter what your political stripes are, that um we all want kids to be reading on grade level at third grade, and I think we're gonna find out that there are some practical realities of this new law of holding some kids back.

There are some exemptions for certain kids, and we're gonna have to just figure this out together.

But I but I totally believe that everyone wants the same thing, and uh I think we can learn from other states, and I'm very again cautiously optimistic that the more we talk about this and the more we focus on this and invest in teachers and invest in families.

I think we're gonna move the needle, and then we can decide is this working for Oklahoma or not, and that's gonna take a few years to figure out.

Uh, one of the things, the the challenges or concerns that I have is that in north side schools, you usually have um the teach for America uh teachers, and they are not as qualified as other teachers, and they are here for a limited time, and that those kids that are in the north side school schools need the stability of teachers, uh, so that they can develop those relationships as they should be developed.

So uh something, in my opinion, and of course we know I know everything, uh, should be uh looked at that should be looked at.

So I I'll share.

I I'm finishing my master's in early childhood education.

Uh I've just had my capstone to go and I'll be done.

And what I learned uh taking a master's is that teaching is really hard, and I've spent a lot of time in classrooms.

And on the one hand, I know a lot of Teach for America folks that are really good people, and oftentimes they'll leave the classroom and go on and do good work.

I do think it's life-changing, but I don't disagree that it's really hard to waltz into a school and be effective in when you're a novice teacher, and that's that's the condition we've we've asked some of them to operate in.

So I I think we're saying the same thing, which is we gotta have teaching's hard, and we need to lift up that profession and and pay and compensate those professionals in a way that attracts talent to the field, and that we don't rely on on a pipeline from college that we have professionals in this community that are doing really important work, and we're just not there.

But I think you know, you saw some change at the State House this year.

Uh I think we're we're starting to reckon with what it's gonna take to rebuild Oklahoma's education, and I think we're heading in the right direction.

Uh one, since you mentioned uh the change, I sincerely hope that people understand the importance of history.

Um there are reasons that we have history.

One of the major reasons is if you don't know your history, you're doomed to report repeat it.

And the other thing is that by looking at history, it helps to explain where we are today.

And one of the things that I know as a fact is that history can be used as a motivator or as a detractor, and so one of the things that people need to do, what we need to do in America is teach the truth, whatever that truth may be.

Gospel again, according to Tracy.

Yeah, I love that.

And I appreciate you being here last night.

We were here last night for a conversation about history uh in the same room.

So I appreciate uh your your uh counsel and wisdom, and uh I feel like my time up here is far exceeded what I came up for.

So uh I I think that thank you.

Thank you, Jeremy.

Uh thank you for that.

So on to the uh challenges that grants administration has recently faced.

Uh, the personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act of 1996, HUD released its updated interpretation of federal public benefits on November 26th of 2025.

The new interpretation clarifies that CPD programs are considered federal public benefit, meaning non-qualified immigrants are restricted from accessing them.

Notice went into effect immediately on upon publication, but does not change the current rules immediately.

Save is an online system for government agencies to verify immigration and citizens citizenship status of applicants seeking federal benefits.

It is administered by the US CIS.

The Department of Planning and Neighborhoods is currently using Save to verify applicants for HUD-funded emergency repairs, homeowner loans, and demolition program.

Grants administration has submitted an application, but registration is on hold due to the large volume of entitlement communities needing access.

The FY27 budget appropriations are underway.

Could you go back a few slides where you were talking about the president?

Oh, sure.

Now are you talking about the president of what president?

The United States.

Okay.

From my understanding, every year he's been in office, that's that's been his recommendation that there's been zero dollar funding for these programs.

But for the ball, we were missing never mind.

Okay, go ahead.

On the public hearing, uh I know that obviously it would be helpful if we are able to get people there.

Um I'm assuming there's going to be like a communications kit or something along those lines shared with us.

Yeah, there will be a uh news release uh to the Tulsa World and uh on our city website, and Lucas will be sending out things to you all ahead of time as well.

Great.

And so people will see that in the newspaper on our website.

I hope so.

Okay.

Yeah.

And so you are going to be doing it to the news stations, right?

Radio and TV.

We do ask for media pushes from our communications department.

Um sometimes they'll release it to the media, they kind of choose what they pick up, but we do release it to like our Facebook and and LinkedIn accounts, things of that nature, but as far as like what what the local media uh decides to put on air, that's really up to them.

It is up to them, but they have to know it first.

Right.

Okay.

So I just want to make sure that they know it.

Yeah.

Okay.

Of course.

I I was curious, um, if you could just kind of walk us through what somebody would expect attending a public hearing just so that people are kind of aware of what to expect if they were to come.

I mean, for the annual or for the needs assessment, we'll we'll get up here and we'll talk about what our needs were identified in the consolidated plan.

We'll have a little presentation and and just go through what those needs and goals are and kind of what we're looking at for the uh next program year.

And then we have at the end of it, we'll have a time for any kind of comments or or questions from you know the audience members.

They'll we'll have a sign up for anybody that wants to speak, and we'll probably have some organizations that come up here and speak as well, you know, talking about their programs that they that they're hoping to get funded.

In the past, has it been a lot of individuals or is that has it been a lot of organizations, or what have you noticed?

We get more organizations than anything that come speak at our needs assessment.

Okay, thank you.

So you say um there will be like a kit uh given to us.

How far in advance of the meeting will this be done?

Do you you have you have a request because we can we can send it out a month ahead of time?

Well, since you mentioned that, what I would uh recommend that it be sent out multiple times.

Okay.

Yeah.

We will note that request.

Thank you.

And then here to it I assume.

Any other comments or questions?

Well I was going to ask some of what they were asking but uh specifically our assistance meaning uh will that be in the kit or are you saying that we're to take part in going out and speaking or facilitating this.

Just spreading the word to the community however you know if you have um social media how however you see fit as far as spreading it around.

Great thank you.

We thank you very much for your work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So with that since it is an unofficial meeting this evening I believe we are adjourned.

There is no need for a uh vote on that and thank you all very much for attending.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I hope you enjoy the hot seat.