Embrace OKC
Sarkeys Foundation Awards $400,000 to Support Behavioral Health Improvements throughout Oklahoma City Public Schools
Better Together
Better Together is a series of monthly virtual panel discussions about various community topics featuring representatives from our Partner Agencies. Guests have the opportunity to hear from multiple Partner Agencies addressing particular topics that fall under United Way’s Impact Areas. At the end of each discussion, listeners can participate in a Q&A with the representatives to learn more about how their agencies address the needs of our community.
Didn’t have a chance to join? Check out the series by clicking the below recording links!
April Better Together – Youth Opportunity
May Better Together – Healthy Community
June Better Together – Community Resiliency
A Better Way
A Better Way is a groundbreaking employment program through collaboration tied specifically to panhandling, but many people who panhandle also experience homelessness. United Way of Central Oklahoma convened with The City of Oklahoma City, Mental Health Association Oklahoma and Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to support community efforts to end homelessness.
Each partner contributes toward the program:
- Mental Health Association Oklahoma operates the program day to day.
- United Way of Central Oklahoma provided $120,000 in seed money, along with $10,000 from Inasmuch Foundation.
- The City of Oklahoma City contributed $150,000 in start-up funding, plus the van.
- Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma donates boxed lunches for participants.
A mobile outreach van visits panhandling hotspots in Oklahoma City from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The program offers people lunch and a $65 daily wage for work like litter removal in parks and other public areas. A caseworker helps connect them with, and guide them through, services like:
- Mental and physical healthcare
- Substance use counseling
- Federal and state benefits
- Housing
- Transportation
- Training
An employment specialist networks with local employers to find long-term work for successful participants.
Healthy Minds Policy Initiative
A collaborative approach to mental health systems transformation.
A 2023 United Way WayFinder grant recipient, the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative is a nonprofit founded in 2019 by The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation to convene partners and create a culture of problem solving on mental health issues. Originally focused on the Tulsa area, Healthy Minds now operates statewide with employees and projects across Oklahoma.
An estimated 578,000 Oklahoma adults — one in five — experience mental illness, and 225,000 have a substance use disorder. Too many of these Oklahomans go without mental health treatment, and the consequences are felt in our families, businesses, schools, and the criminal justice system.
Emergency Food & Shelter Program
The Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) was created by Congress in 1983 to help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United States and its territories by allocating federal funds for the provision of food and shelter.
The program is governed by a National Board composed of representatives of the American Red Cross; Catholic Charities, USA; The Jewish Federations of North America; National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; The Salvation Army; and United Way Worldwide. The Board is chaired by a representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). United Way World wide is the fiscal agent for EFSP funding.
Awards are made available by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and will be announced by the National Board. Funded Jurisdictions have local boards made up of representatives from local affiliates of the National Board organizations. The United Way of Central provides the administrative staff for the jurisdictions of Logan, Canadian, McClain and Oklahoma Counties.
Siemer Grant
When families are stable, our community is stronger. One way that United Way helps individuals strengthen their families is through a partnership with the Siemer Institute; this program grant works to prevent family homelessness and reduce school mobility so that families gain financial security and their children can succeed in school.