And I serve as the chair of the Tulsa Women's Commission.

And this is what we love to see.

Thank you all for coming to our meeting.

We have a really amazing treat.

Um, I'm going to hear from the incredible Alison Anthony and Melanie Polter from the Tulsa Area United Way.

But first, we've got to call our meeting to order.

So let's go ahead and do that.

And the first order of business is that we need to approve our minutes.

I need a motion to approve our if you can take a second to look over those, and then when you feel comfortable, I'll accept a motion to approve the minutes.

My motion to approve the minutes.

Okay, we have a first.

All right, and second from first was from Commissioner Morgan, second from Commissioner Bent.

Um, all right.

Um, all right.

Well, I'm just not even going to delay at all.

Um, Flora, do you want to vote?

Oh, yeah, we gotta vote.

Okay.

I just have high hopes it'll pass, but all in favor, say aye.

Aye, any opposed?

Any abstentions?

All right, it passes.

All right, I want to shout out the incredible work of our um multiple commissioners.

Um, Commissioner Bruno Todd, who leads the uh leadership Tulsa, um hosted an event.

Leadership Tulsa hosted the women's leadership summit.

Um, and we think that some of you may be here because of the leadership summit.

We presented about the work of the Tulsa Women's Commission, and we welcome you with full hearts.

We're so glad that you're here today, and so glad to be featuring the Tulsa Area United Way and the Alice um research.

And so I just want to we're just gonna dive right into it and want to welcome the incredible Allison Anthony, who serves as the president and CEO of Tulsa Area United Way, and Melanie Poulter, who serves as the Director of Research and Data at the Tulsa Area United Way to share with us about Alice.

So without further ado, let's welcome Alison Anthony.

And by the way, your commissioners, Edwards and Lata, did an incredible job at the Women's Leadership Summit and represented this so well, so much great data.

So thank you.

I'm proudly wearing my uh Deputy Reyes, Deputy Mayor Reyes bestowed upon me this pin for the cabinet of children, youth, and families, and I am incredibly grateful for uh the work that this mayor and his administration is leaning into to remove barriers for family prosperity.

It's gonna be really hard.

I'm gonna warn you, it's gonna be really hard for me to stay behind this microphone because usually I'm moving all around, but we're told that this is part of the video, so I'm gonna stay here.

I am um so honored to do the work of Tulsa Area United Way in this community just as a as a brief overview.

We really lean into the pillars of helping people have access to health care and healthy food.

We're uh focused on youth opportunities so that when kids graduate and walk across that stage, they have many life opportunities ahead of them and that their families can celebrate them for whatever is next.

We really focus on family and financial stability, which is what we're really going to be talking about today, which you know, job training, removing those those limitations that people might not might not even know what's available.

So we want to make sure that that information is out there and that we're supporting programs to do that, and then finally, community resiliency.

So, like on the worst day of someone's life that they know who to call and that they know how to get help, and that's why we have 211 of Eastern Oklahoma across 37 counties, Oklahoma City uh Heartline has the other half of the state.

But just last year alone, 264,000 times someone reached out and says, I don't know where to turn for help.

The community resiliency is that 211 is there to direct them, and we applaud the courage of people that reach out to ask for help.

So that's why we raise all of those things and more.

I'm looking at my friend Mimi and my friend Tanil and at Family and Children's Services.

It's why we raise over 26 million dollars every year to fund 160 great programs.

One of my favorites right now is MODIS, who's doing some incredible work in transportation.

And I'm calling Justice out in particular because she said she was intimidated to be on the elevator with me.

So I'm like, I'm not.

I'm not intimidated.

MODIS is doing a great innovation grant for us right now at Tulsa Area United Way where they're taking kids from East Central High School who have technical skills training to the Port of Catusa where there are jobs, but they couldn't get there.

That's just a smart idea, and we love it.

So that's why we're doing this work, and that is why I am so honored to join you all in the efforts that you're doing around the for the for the mayor's commission on women.

And when you think about the work you've done over the past few years on the pay equity pledge, United Way's a signatory on that, on uh on child care access, and I want to just tell you something.

When I saw that report, I said, Dr.

Latta, who did this work for you?

Who was the consultant?

And she's like, Oh, we just did it.

I'm like, but you also have full-time jobs, and you also have little bitty children, you know, and so the women in this room that are doing this work are lifting others as they climb, in the words of Mary McLeod Bethune, and you were doing the work, you feel it in your own home, but you're doing the work for others who may not have a voice around this table.

So thank you so much for that.