Advocacy

When Should You Contact Your State Legislators? Early & Often.

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For Oklahomans who care deeply about improving outcomes for our neighbors, especially those experiencing homelessness or mental illness, recent news has been hard to hear. The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services recently announced $40 million in cuts to service providers, ending nearly 300 contracts with organizations statewide. Just days later, Governor […]

When Should You Contact Your State Legislators? Early & Often. Read More »

MHAOK and other Key to Home partner agencies conduct OKC’s annual Point-In-Time Count

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Homelessness, Point in Time Count /

For most of today, partner agencies across Oklahoma City, including Mental Health Association Oklahoma, are putting their boots on the ground to conduct its annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count, an essential initiative aimed at providing a snapshot of homelessness in the community. At 3:00 a.m. well over 100 hyper-caffeinated volunteers bundled up to kick off the

MHAOK and other Key to Home partner agencies conduct OKC’s annual Point-In-Time Count Read More »

The Importance of Shelters and Outreach Teams in Oklahoma

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Drop-In Centers, Homelessness, Street Medicine, Street Outreach /

Homelessness: By the Numbers  One week from today, partner agency staff across Oklahoma City – including MHAOK – will gather at 3:30 a.m., divide into groups of six and head out into hidden corners of the city to count as many people experiencing homelessness as we can find. The same count will take place in

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House Bill 1031X introduces three new programs to incentivize affordable housing statewide

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Homelessness, Housing, Street Outreach /

Imagine a bridge.  One side of it is rickety, precarious. The area on that side of the bridge is derelict, but most don’t know it because most don’t see it. It could be hidden by trees or dilapidated structures, or it could go unseen simply because so many people don’t know or care to look.

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An inside view of Governor Stitt’s dissolution of the GICH

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Housing, Media Coverage /

As we continue to advocate for the most vulnerable Oklahomans, we recognize and applaud the innovative leadership at all levels who work alongside us in this fight to end homelessness. As our own Kelly Dyer Fry said in Sunday’s op-ed for the Oklahoman (a paper at which she was the editor for nearly a decade),

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Developing: the dissolution of the Oklahoma Governor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness

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As the premier boots-on-the-ground nonprofit whose expertise and work primarily exists at the intersection of mental illness and homelessness, we were disheartened to learn of Governor Stitt’s decision to disband the 19 year-old Oklahoma’s Governor on Interagency Council on Homelessness (GICH). 2News Oklahoma reached out to us for comment, and past chair of the GICH

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