Plenty of back and forth during the monthly meeting of the state school board.

I think there are ways to do it.

I'll be happy to talk to you about that.

Well, and and that's all fine, but how do we determine a majority if a majority can't meet to vote?

The Oklahoma career tax system is facing a budget crunch after federal funding is frozen.

Classes are getting shortened.

Teachers are getting laid off.

And most importantly, students aren't able to continue their pursuit of higher earnings.

Greene County, utilizing a $300,000 grant to combat opioid addiction.

And the way that we do that is for them to come to our program and be able to live here for seven months as kids.

Read less.

What impact is it having on their ability to learn?

I'd love to see young people get back to just getting their nose in a book and reading the book and losing themselves in that book.

An in-depth conversation on ongoing efforts to reduce homelessness in Oklahoma City.

We are restricted in the progress that we can make in the speed in which we can move by resources.

Those stories, plus it's hot out there.

Next on the Oklahoma News report.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Oklahoma News report I'm Rich Lens.

The Oklahoma Department of Education held its monthly board meeting on Thursday with some members of the board, at times openly at odds with Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Education reporter Taylor Jackson joins us now with a recap.

Taylor, the average superintendent, Walters is not backing down from his initiatives.

While some board members say they aren't being included in decision making, and the wisdom and the resources to truly impact every child's life for the better.

Amen.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is not letting up on his mandate to require all Oklahoma schools to provide free school lunch.

We heard a lot of concerns about school lunches, so we began to dig into that over the summer to see why are we not covering school lunches.

We take federal dollars where pay people pay into their federal taxes.

We take state and local dollars.

Why are we not covering kids lunches when parents have already been taxed twice and they're being hit with a third tax over the summer to say, actually, you still owe us for school lunches.

The mandate was sent to Oklahoma schools earlier this month.

Now districts are scrambling to provide free lunches before school starts in August.

You have $13,000 a kid minimum.

Most most likely it's closer to 15 or $16,000 per kid cost about $400 a year to feed the kids lunches.

Districts can prioritize the kids and make sure the kids get fed.

Lawmakers in the House had mixed reactions to the mandate.

House Education Committee chair representative Dick Lowe called the mandate an empty threat and a statement that read in part, this attempt to overstep the authority of Walters office is a threat to the independent decision making powers of Oklahoma school districts.

Representative.

Any man who filed legislation to expand free lunch programs in the past seemed to be on board.

Hungry kids can't learn, and every child deserves access to healthy, nutritious meals.

I hope that going forward, Mr. Walters will be more collaborative with the legislature to determine lasting budget solutions to make this program work for our kids.

Other lawmakers questioned how the free meals would be funded.

I've heard, you know, superintendents push back on this.

They want more funding.

They want more funding.

I won't be really clear.

This is not a funding issue.

It's a spending issue.

Walters, who sits on the PTA board by his elected position, doubled down on the agency's partnership with the American Virtual Academy.

The superintendent says that OSD has been working with the Virtual Academy to make sure it was eligible for Oklahoma students to attend, making sure that they would be available for all parents.

And we wanted parents to know, once they became eligible, that this is an exciting new venture.

Board member Ryan Death Ridge voiced his concern about the virtual school.

From my understanding, just from reading, that this particular school is not doing well in Arizona.

And I'm curious, would that come before the board for approval to enter into an agreement with them?

Despite local reports, Walters says the American Virtual Academy is not linked to the failing virtual school in Arizona known as Primavera.

This is a private school.

That is that is starting up.

That is a newer school that is in several other states, but they keep connecting it to another school.

This is a different school with a different mission.

Members of the board say they were not privy to the agreement being made.

Can you provide legal reasons why that would not come before the board?

I'm asking our board counsel to please provide that.

The superintendent later said in a Post-Meeting press gaggle that he didn't need the board's approval.

You saw a board today that didn't want more school choice options for our kids, so they need to go have a conversation with the governor and figure out why they're so out of step with him if he changed his mind.

I think he needs to address that.

Members say this isn't the first time they were unaware of choices being made.

Chris Van Zandt wanted to know why members were not notified that the previous board secretary had been replaced, who was not discussed with the removal of Miss London.

So I want to call a special meeting in 2 to 3 weeks.

I think there are ways to do it.

I'll be happy to talk to you about that.

Well, and that's all fine, but how do we determine a majority if the majority can't meet to vote?

I'm happy to look at what they have to offer.

But again, you know, my bigger concern is the board being out of step with Oklahomans in general.

And, The agency is also working with Prager University to develop a test for incoming teachers from out of state to ensure their teaching styles align with Oklahoma values.

Rich Taylor, thank you.

Well, Oklahoma has a long way to go to become a top ten state when it comes to education that, according to Wallet Hub's 2025 report on the states with the best and worst school systems using 32 different criteria of quality and safety.

WalletHub ranks Oklahoma 50th out of 50 states, and the district of Columbia 44th in math scores, 48th in reading, a little better in the teacher pupil ratios.

Our S.A.T.

and Act scores are near the bottom are dropout rate is 46th and our best ranking 27th.

When it comes to the amount of bullying reported in our schools.

Oklahoma's career tech system is facing a budget crunch after the Trump administration froze $7.5 million in federal funding they'd been counting on.

Jason Doyle went to Stillwater this week to learn more and joins us now.

Jason Rich, the Trump administration froze those funds to review if undocumented immigrants were accessing the adult education programs.

Oklahoma officials say they'll pass the review, but it is the timing of the freeze causing issues for the program.

Does anyone have any questions with that right there?

Oklahoma adults are filling classrooms like this at the Opportunities Industrialization Center of Oklahoma County, or OIC, around the state, to obtain high school diplomas and other certificates to help improve their chances of landing better paying jobs.

Right before the state started its new fiscal year on July 1st, the news came down from the federal government.

The funds for the adult education and family literacy programs were frozen, and on June 30th, we found out that, that money is frozen.

So, immediately impacting everyone's budget because the start of a budget year is July 1st.

So a really big impact to all those, staff members and, site supervisors, because now we can't move forward without those dollars.

Brant Hagan is the state director for the Oklahoma career Tax System, which manages the grants.

It allows us to have 30 programs at actually 119 sites, over 500 staff members that we, we use to make sure all these adults can get high school equivalency or get literacy training that helps them get into programs, or maybe even just an education to get into a program like nursing or welding or something like that.

The program serves thousands of adult learners in Oklahoma.

Last year, we were just under around 12,000 adults that are served through this program, and it's a variety of education.

So we're a state that has, quite a few people, nearly 300,000 without a high school diploma.

This is our G-E-D prep room.

And so, you know, the G-E-D has been changed to HSC High School equivalency.

This is where we prepare those students to pass our test.

This is a room full of magic.

Christopher Myers with OAC says for now, they're able to continue with courses meant to help adults obtain a GED or other education certificate.

You know, a freeze in the life of an adult learner is not.

A pause is a setback.

Many of them are individuals who are also taking care of families at the same time that they're trying to go to school and better themselves.

He wishes the federal government had taken more of a scalpel approach.

Instead of freezing the entire program to make sure it doesn't help illegal aliens.

It's not practical to freeze these dollars for individual programs.

If one program was in violation, you know, to freeze and to impact everybody else because as they're freezing it, programs are getting cut off.

Classes are getting shortened, teachers are getting laid off, and most importantly, students aren't able to continue their pursuit of higher earnings.

One of the oases success stories, cash Corry, was on hand Tuesday to tell us about his education journey.

In 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, he stopped going to school.

I lost a lot of motivation to go.

I wasn't really interested in academics at all.

But during the pandemic, I kind of regained that interest.

And yeah, I found OIC and I started coming here around 2024.

A year later, he's working for OIC as a student ambassador and preparing to enroll in college.

Right now, I'm planning to apply to, OSU this next, August.

When their admissions opened, hopefully, going in for sociology and B.S.

in sociology and down that path also, on my pre-med getting his diploma has helped this young man find his place.

I had no confidence in myself back then.

Once I got my GED, it really did open up like that.

That confidence that I could do that if I.

If I really set my mind to it, I could go to any school I want to and study and.

The adult learning and family literacy programs around the state take the approach of meeting students where they are.

If somebody, you know, dropped out as a ninth grader versus somebody that, dropped out with, you know, halfway through their senior year, they may need different things.

So those assessments, find out where they are, kind of meet them where they are, and provide the plan for them, to get them through as quick as we can.

Career tech director for workforce Training Max McKnight explains the programs do more than just get someone a GED.

Once they've got that GED, they may be ready to go into one of our full time programs and a tech center.

It may prepare them for promotion in in their job once they get that, high school diploma, we want them to go to the next and, take the next steps.

The federal funds freeze affects thousands of adult learners across the state, including the largest concentration of adult learners here at Oklahoma City Community College.

Well, we serve about 5000, and I think the state numbers are somewhere around 12,000.

So kind of gives you an idea of how many, what percentage of the state that we serve.

Eric Beecher is the assistant director for adult education at Oklahoma City Community College.

He says that the adult education program, despite the funding freeze, is continuing through resources the two year college is providing to the program.

It would be much harder for us to try to cancel 2000 reservations, 2000 students from coming in, and then if the moneys do come in in the future, then trying to reach back out to all the students, get everyone rescheduled, Beecher adds.

Ex adult education program reaches far beyond southwest Oklahoma City.

We serve students from every county in the state because we have, synchronous and asynchronous options for our students to get their high school equivalency.

So, you know, we'll have somebody I had someone from Elk City, get enrolled yesterday.

Actually, if he had his wish, he would like to see the state legislature take more interest in the adult learning programs, more funding in this stream.

So we don't have to rely completely on the federal government.

Christopher Myers with OIC, feels it's time for Oklahoma's congressional delegation to lend a hand to get the funds and frozen.

We need your voice to be raised in opposition to them holding on to money that has already been approved.

How can I teach students about government and a federal budgeting process is being violated right in front of their eyes.

Career Tech Director Brant Harkins says the state does have mechanisms in place to ensure the adult learner programs money does not go toward undocumented immigrants, and that once the funding is restored, the programs can return back to normal pretty quickly.

Rich, Jason, thank you very much.

Oklahoma's heat wave is taking its toll.

As of Thursday afternoon, Emsa reporting 368 heat related calls in Oklahoma City and Tulsa this year.

And just this week, 27 people have been transported to the hospital and EMS medical alert was issued on July 9th, the fifth heat warning of this year.

This is a particularly dangerous time for anyone who works or lives outside, but all of us are susceptible to heat stress or worse, heat stroke.

If you notice some heat exhaustion, you notice, you know, you're getting a little weak.

Little tired.

You notice that you're still sweating, but you might be getting, you know, your skin might not be reacting right.

And so you want to get inside.

You want to cool off.

You want to have some water.

You want to relax.

If that's not possible.

Shade.

Getting somewhere where you have some some wind, to help cool you down.

And always hydrate.

Since the start of this year, EMS reports transporting 249 people to the hospital with heat related illnesses.

The severe heat can be a life or death issue for the homeless, and there appear to be more and more people living on the streets in Tulsa in Oklahoma City.

Both communities are trying new strategies to deal with this problem.

In this week's in-depth discussion, moderator Cassidy Mud and her panel of guests will focus on Oklahoma City.

Here's a preview.

It's just kind of one event.

Like more the majority of America, and definitely Oklahomans are living kind of paycheck to paycheck where they're kind of one major life event, one major illness, one significant expense away from being in a situation where they can no longer pay their rent or mortgage and so I think it can happen to anyone.

I think the trends that are most troubling to me are the folks that we are seeing coming in in vulnerable conditions.

So we're seeing more elderly folks, more that are medically fragile, and then families with children.

The important thing to remember is that those are all people, and that they're people deserving of of dignity and kindness.

And that as community members, when we see people experiencing homelessness, you know, one of the easiest and best things we can do, is look them in the eye and wave and recognize that that's a person sleeping.

The rest of that conversation coming up later in this newscast, you don't hear as much about it in the news these days, but opioid addiction remains a stubborn problem in Oklahoma.

Recently, we received a $300,000 grant to help improve their ability to deal with opioid addiction among their citizens.

Steve Shawn joins us now with the details.

Steve Rich, we hear top ten a lot from state leaders.

Well, Creek County, according to people who study this kind of thing is in the top ten in Oklahoma for nonfatal opioid overdoses.

And Creek County ranks number seven in opioid overdose deaths.

Yes.

I have 42 years clean.

From what?

From cocaine, drugs, alcohol, I did everything.

If it was there, I did it.

Kevin Day is CEO of Life Gate Freedom Recovery Ministries in Sapulpa.

People that we deal with have a lot of barriers to getting recovery and to getting help.

A place to live a place to live is a major one.

We have people here that have been homeless for six years, four years, two years.

And they've been just out on drugs, alcohol, and living on the streets.

Day and his wife, Sue, and started Life Gate 19 years ago.

I think everybody knows and understands the fact that in 28 days, you cannot get somebody.

Well, it takes a lot longer than 28 days to get somebody well.

And the way that we do that is for them to come to our program and be able to live here for seven months and to learn the life skills and the things that they need to do in order for them to stay sober and stay clean.

Jeremy Presley.

Started drinking when he was 15.

I would have to say I was looking at pretty much the rest of my life in prison for the drug charges, and just repeated over and over again, and at some point, the light clicked on.

Yeah.

Presley has been sober two years and has a job as a cook at Life Gate.

Kathleen Davis has been sober six years and manages Life Gate's women's wing.

What keeps you sober?

Helping people?

Life guard Chris Oakes, behavioral health, Tulsa Family and Children's services and youth services of Creek County are all already benefiting from that $300,000 state grant.

Deborah Barger is protective parenting teacher for Youth Services of Creek County.

So I have a really great success story that I want to share.

Just recently, I had a husband and wife that I was court ordered.

My classes are court ordered, to take parenting classes, and they were both heavy drug users, and, they had a little girl that was too.

They just had a baby boy.

And the baby tested positive for, both opiates and meth.

Barger says hard work by both parents earned their children back.

Cree Oaks Behavioral Health has 25 offices on the eastern side of the state.

Amanda Hammock is Carrie Oaks, director of addiction and recovery.

Our biggest challenge right now is making sure that our services continue.

There are a lot of our services, unfortunately, that are being, heavily scrutinized.

And by who?

By who?

By state and federal government.

And so we are, fighting to to keep things going.

Lanny Burns directs employment and education for Tulsa Family and Children's Services.

I mean, for us, it's the difference between being able to provide services or not.

On July 1st, we got an email that we weren't expecting that federally, funding for adult education nationwide was put on hold.

Having the ability to have access to this opioid abatement funding means that because we lost that, we're still able to continue services here in Creek County.

Whereas many other adult education programs and GED providers across the state are having to pause services or shut down altogether.

Yvonne Bishop is 67.

She's a long time home health aide who 26 years ago fractured her spine in an automobile accident in Tulsa.

Then Yvonne got hooked on pills.

What kind of pain pills?

You remember the names of, Norco, Lawton?

Stay away from Norco at all costs.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

And then it progressed to the oxy is, you know, just kind of whatever you could get your hands on.

I mean, I was spending every bit, every penny I made, you know, just to buy the pills, just to go to work.

So it was just a vicious cycle, you know?

Bishop got clean seven years ago with the help of Three Oaks Health.

Two years ago, Yvonne was diagnosed with liver cancer.

Last February, she got a liver transplant.

It's a big difference to live it.

Live and live cleans.

Yeah, it's different, isn't it?

Yeah.

Oh, Lord.

Yes!

Yeah, yeah.

Sleep better at night.

Yeah.

Have many, you know, have money to spend.

Yes.

And in the good.

Got to be proud of myself.

Not have to be ashamed.

You know, with my family.

We'll keep tabs on Yvonne.

As for that $300,000 grant, those organizations who received that money say the big reason they got it was because they help each other.

They work together.

Rich.

Steve.

Thank you.

Sitting down to read a good book.

Becoming obsolete.

Certainly kids and adults are reading less and less as they consume more and more of their information in entertainment online.

What impact is that having on learning and education?

The well read Noah Mack joins us now with some insight on that.

Noah.

Well, Rich, I've got a new book here by Don Julio Copay.

He's an Oklahoma City resident, and one of his missions when writing the L Creek Desperados was to ignite kids imagination and fascination in books again, all while writing an ode to Oklahoma.

Take a look.

That's a.

Okay, okay, okay.

And this is a rental.

They're just different than books.

Gee, copay or his preferred alias, Don Julio copay is enamored by cultures outside of his own.

Everyone I meet gives me an opportunity to learn something new and different that makes my life richer.

As a former history teacher, copay also appreciates history, particularly the old West.

But my mom told me when I was growing up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and brother Jack and I were playing cowboys.

She she told me then that she called my brother.

That's what they call the oldest son in the South where I grew up.

So, brother, you were born 100 years too late.

Look at all this.

If I were to give out this Willis collection.

I'm so interested in indigenous people, Hispanic people, the Old West that I've just kind of accumulated.

This copy was born in North Carolina.

And being in a military family, he lived in five other states and Puerto Rico before his family settled down in Oklahoma, which is the setting for his new book, The Elk Creek Desperados.

You see, Rainy Mountain is on the front.

Elk Creek is on the back.

Saturday, he hosted a book signing at the Sartell Cafe in Oklahoma City.

You want to call or CD baby?

Cope wrote the book to be palatable to a broad audience, and he's hoping his old West Okie epic can rope in the younger generation.

But I'd love to see young people get back to just getting their nose in a book and reading the book and losing themselves in that book.

A study by Harper Collins Publishing Company found that 32% of 5 to 10 year olds frequently read for enjoyment.

A steep decline in the last decade.

I think part of it is just that we've changed from play based, childhood to a film based childhood.

Amanda Cordell, director of libraries for Norman Public Schools, sees this deteriorating interest in reading firsthand.

We still have, really voracious readers at every site, but that number is dwindling.

Cordell sees phones eating away at children's attention span, making reading more of a chore than entertainment.

But in this upcoming school year, a statewide cell phone ban across all schools will go into effect.

I'm hoping that with the new law that we see, some improvement, with our kids and their attention spans and, and just interest and inquiry and learning.

However, Cordell says they are seeing an uptick in students checking out nonfiction books and says a lot of that has to do with online learning.

Kids will get engaged if you compare the technology with the information that they need.

And being able to watch a documentary and then finding a nonfiction book to to promote that inquiry and to give them more details.

She adds that nonfiction books are evolving.

It's just really engaging.

The it's not the nonfiction that I read as a kid.

These are, really engaging narrative nonfiction, which is exactly how Cobb wanted to craft his book.

I would like it to be an Oklahoma history lesson with that.

People that are reading the book, even knowing that is Oklahoma history lesson.

The Harper Collins study also found that less than half 40% of parents say reading to their children is fun.

Although Matt Ewers got two copies of The Creek Desperados, one for him and one for his stepson.

You know, with him being nine years old, he's got, you know, video games and, a lot of his friends have cell phones, and he's he doesn't really take the books as a default.

And so, I just think there's a lot to be found in, in the millions of books that have been written that is, that are just different worlds to explore.

And, and this is one of them.

Matt believes books will always have that unique appeal.

Using the words in the page stimulates the imagination.

I think a lot more than having it all presented to you.

I'm about halfway through Don Julio's book, and you can tell it was written by someone who really loved to play cowboys as a kid.

You can also tell that his brother Jack meant a great deal to him.

Jack Westley Copay passed away 17 years ago.

So Don Julio dedicated the book to him, and one of the main characters is named Jack.

And it says here in the book, now all of those wonderful boyhood adventures can be relived in the Elk Creek desperados.

Happy trails Jack Wesley.

And after all, Koepp says, old Jack Wesley got to play a cowboy on the big screen.

He had a part in Rain Man, and, of course he never let us forget it.

Hey, buddy.

Hey.

Jack played more of a suburban cowboy, a disgruntled truck driver in the scene where Raymond gets confused by the Don't Walk sign.

Well, he's gonna get hurt.

Go off in the Elk Creek Desperados, though.

Jack is a Bowie knife wielding, horseback riding, unadulterated cowboy.

I hope it just totally blesses everyone that reads it, and they get some enjoyment and a sense of belonging to what I think is the greatest state in the United States.

Oklahoma technology will continue to advance, but co-pay?

He'll still be finding ways to keep that imagination in history and in reading alive.

Railroads came in.

We stopped cattle drives in.

Here we are today, General Jeff.

Jet airplane flying over even as we speak.

This book is the first in a series, and co-pay is going to keep writing as long as people keep reading rich.

Noah.

Thank you.

While Oklahoma lawmakers are not currently in session, this is the time of year where leaders decide which issues will be studied and then possibly considered for debate next February.

This week I spoke with Reporter and Ross with our content partners at Oklahoma Watch to learn more about the hot topics on lawmakers minds.

Kaden, how many of these interim studies have been approved in the Senate, and how many do you expect will be approved in the House once that deadline comes on Friday?

73 have been approved in the Senate and in the House.

There's, I believe more than 150, requests for an interim study.

Generally in most years, most, if not all of those requests are approved.

So, more likely than not, there will be more than 200 studies total.

So once this deadline passes, what happens next?

It will be up to the committee chairs.

In each particular committee to, schedule those studies for a hearing date.

They must be completed by October 31st.

So it's most likely we'll see those studies beginning and, the beginning part of September and then continuing through October.

So give me 3 or 4 of these interim studies that you think are going to receive the most attention from lawmakers and the governor.

Few of the ones that caught my attention are, election related.

There is a study by, Senator Bill Coleman looking at recall elections for state officers.

This was something he, he introduced a bill on last session.

Didn't get across the finish line, but but received a lot of attention.

Of course, there's been controversy with, few statewide elected officials.

Superintendent Brian Walters, Commissioner Todd hired so those have been, drawn scrutiny, and lawmakers have been looking at potentially an avenue for, the legislature or citizens to initiate that recall process.

Another one is a study by Melody bland said, in the house looking at dark money in Oklahoma politics.

That's something that, we've covered a lot at Oklahoma watch.

Just, the the increase of political spending where the source is unclear a lot of times.

And the messages, are pretty contentious.

And also a study by Senator Mary born.

Looking at early voting.

Of course, next year, will be an election year.

And there's been, a lot of discussion about possibly the need for the state to continue to expand early voting options.

Roughly what percentage of these interim studies actually become a bill?

And then beyond that, how many bills actually become law?

And in a typical session?

It's pretty common that you'll see if a lawmaker introduces an interim study on a subject, they will, introduce a related bill in the in the next session.

Of course, it it can vary whether that bill gains much traction or not.

Sometimes you have to study an issue or introduce a bill in multiple sessions for, sort of the, the interest or traction to, to take hold on that.

Keagan can everyday Oklahomans head down to the state Capitol and take part in these interim studies?

These interim studies are, generally open to the public if they're space.

They're it's just like any other committee hearing or hearing at the Capitol.

Generally there's not, public comment or that sort of thing, allowed at these studies.

But, if you go through the list and see one you're interested in, you can always contact the, legislator who's sponsoring the study and request that, you know, a certain perspective is considered or, issue addressed in that realm.

Keaton Ross, reporter for Oklahoma Watch.

As always, thank you very much for your insight and your time.

Thank you.

Oklahoma businesses were hiring in the month of June.

That story topped this week's statewide Oklahoma Business Review, with Jason Doyle.

While Oklahoma's unemployment rate stood at 3.1% from May to June, there are signs of growth in the labor force and jobs market.

More than 2900 workers found jobs last month, decreasing those receiving unemployment payments by 631 people.

The net total of 1200 jobs were added to Oklahoma's economy in June, a 10th of a percent increase from May.

The super sector of trade, transportation and utilities added 1000 jobs.

The biggest job losses came from the leisure and hospitality sector, dropping 1200 positions.

Oklahoma City's home buying market is following the national trend of not favoring buyers or sellers as a neutral market.

The June Zillow market report says more major cities are seeing more inventory and lower wait times for being listed to be sold in Oklahoma City.

It takes about 19 days for a home to be sold before the pandemic, it was only three days.

There's also 7.8% fewer homes on the market since the pandemic.

Zillow's report also shows that 29.5% of homes listed in June had a price reduction to help attract a buyer.

American Electric Power, the parent company of Oklahoma Utility Public Service Company of Oklahoma, or PSA, declared it will pay a $0.93 a share dividend.

Investors will need to have the company's common stock in their portfolio by the end of business on August 8th.

The payout is expected on September 10th.

Oklahoma State University's Speers School of Business recently received a $2 million gift from BOC financial as a show of gratitude.

OSU renamed the school's lobby after Beyoncé Financial.

Over the years, Beyoncé Financial has hired nearly 500 OSU graduates.

The Oklahoma Aquarium The Jinx has received a 2025 TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Award that puts it in the top 10% of attractions worldwide, according to visitor reviews and ratings.

Among the features of the tours stop in the Tulsa area is the world's largest collection of bull sharks.

This is the Oklahoma Business Review.

Jason, thanks.

Mayor David Holt says homelessness is decreasing in Oklahoma City, but there are divergent views on that.

In this week's in-depth discussion.

Moderator Kassidy Mudge speaks with people in OKC who deal with this issue every day.

Kassidy Rich joins me.

The president and CEO of the Homeless Alliance are also joined by Rachel Freeman, the CEO of City Care OKC.

And finally, we're joined by Jamie Cave's The Strategy implementation manager at Key to Home.

Ladies, thank you for joining us here on In Depth.

Thanks for being so glad to have you.

Well, during his state of the city address, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt addressed homelessness, saying a smaller percentage of residents are experiencing it less today than they were two decades ago.

Here's what the mayor had to say in 2007.

The average annual population of people in our and our city experiencing homelessness in the three years from 05207 was 1656.

That's the three year average of those three years.

What we didn't necessarily know in 2007 was that our overall city population was about to soar, as you see in the chart, just in the city limits, we have gained over 165,000 people since 2007.

Jamie, as you heard the mayor say, a smaller percentage of people are homeless now, but due to the latest point in time count, it shows that more people are actually homeless today.

Can you help us understand this?

Sure.

Sure.

So both things are actually true with the point in time count, or a one day estimation of people experiencing homelessness.

We did have an increase this year of 2.4%.

What Mayor Holt is saying is that we've had a significant growth in our overall population since 2007, and the number of people experiencing homelessness has not increased at the same rate.

So, for example, in 2007, 30 of every 10,000 Oklahoma City residents were experiencing homelessness.

In 2025, only 24 of every 10,000 residents are experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City.

Well, Rachel at city, Carrie, you and your team are working with these people in need every single day.

You're seeing them face to face.

Are we seeing more or less people coming in that need help?

Would you say we opened our low barrier shelter in April of 2021?

And since then, we've welcomed 6000 neighbors through our doors?

I think the trends that are most troubling to me are the folks that we are seeing coming in in vulnerable conditions.

So we're seeing more elderly folks, more that are medically fragile, and then families with children.

Okay.

Well, Megan, what are we seeing from the point in time count data?

Yeah.

So, Jamie mentioned, you know, a 2.4 increase this year.

So, so we did see a slight uptick, from 2024 to 2025, the fastest growing subpopulations, are families with children and seniors.

So people over 65, the two subpopulations that we see, growing the most, within the overall population.

So in terms of people who this is affecting the most, the most vulnerable, it's family, children and the elderly.

Why are we seeing that?

I think you have to go back to, Homelessness is not an isolated phenomenon.

So this happens.

It's a predictable result of wage stagnation.

And, rising median rents and lack of affordable housing.

So when I think about elderly folks, I'm thinking about folks who are on fixed incomes, and who may have been priced out of the market.

I do think that we saw some positive, movement in this most recent point in time count as well.

So even though there was a mild increase with the overall population, we saw our chronic unsheltered population decrease.

That said, population has actually decreased by 43% over the last two years.

Which which is excellent.

And that's a subpopulation that we've really focused some collective resources and efforts, on, especially these past couple of years.

And so to see the needle moving in the right direction is really exciting.

And I want to talk about some of those things that we're what we're doing right here.

But can you tell us the difference between you said subpopulation in and and then also unsheltered that is like longer than regular unsheltered or I'm sorry.

Right.

Chronic unsheltered.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, you're exactly right.

So when we kind of talk about homelessness overall, that includes people who are living in encampments and other places not meant for human habitation.

It also includes people who are staying in shelters.

And when we speak about specific subpopulations, we're talking about kind of segments of that overall population.

So, chronic unsheltered is just a subset of the overall total.

And those are folks who are sleeping in encampments, who are living outdoors, and who've been doing so for typically a year or longer.

So this goes into my next question.

Rachel Mayor also said unsheltered homelessness is the most visible, but that that also is down from 2007.

Does this match what we're seeing?

And can you help us understand the difference between sheltered and unsheltered?

Sure.

Sheltered and unsheltered are describing where someone is sleeping.

So if they are sleeping inside at, an emergency shelter or a program like Megan mentioned, we would consider them sheltered, if they are sleeping outside in an encampment or in a place that is not meant for human habitation, we would consider that unsheltered.

The the thing that I think about that is the most important marker, as we're moving forward is again, what what is affordable and to whom.

So 25% of our state is living at the low, at 30% of area median income or less.

And so for a family of four, that means they're living on $29,000.

So how many people are homeless today?

Is, less of an important marker to me than what is going to become next year?

And here's year, the predicted problem.

That's right.

So when Eric, when area median rents increase by $100, homelessness increases by 9%.

So while we're seeing the population rise and maybe the numbers aren't matching it because the I don't understand math, but the, you know, the population is rising and we're not seeing homelessness.

Keep up with that as well.

But it's predictable and we're already seeing issues now.

Yes.

So half of the almost half of the people who are experiencing homelessness are experiencing homelessness for the very first time.

And I think that's an important marker.

We're looking at folks who have been able to maintain housing, and until some event that happened right now, and if they're overly cost burdened by housing costs, they're choosing between rent and they're choosing between food.

And when those ends don't meet, we meet them at the front door of our shelters, or in encampments in Oklahoma City.

Well, Jamie, do you think people understand how quickly having a house or having a place to say to not having somewhere to live at all?

Do you think people understand how quickly that can change?

No.

Yeah.

No, I think it's, it's just kind of one event like more the majority of America and and definitely Oklahomans are living kind of paycheck to paycheck where they're kind of one major life event, one major illness, one significant expense away from being in a situation where they can no longer pay their rent or mortgage.

And so I think it can happen to anyone.

There are certainly like risk factors that that people experience, but we need to ensure that we're protecting our affordable housing stock, that we're creating more affordable housing.

The eviction laws in Oklahoma, can really be a challenge.

They don't allow for much time for people to adjust or make a different plan.

So there's there's some opportunity for us to decrease homelessness in Oklahoma as far as as far as that goes.

And just like looking at things holistically, so we know we see the numbers that are kind of flat.

So when we see a 2.4% increase, we think like our system is, is getting close to getting balanced, which is a good sign.

But there are still a lot of people that are stuck in homelessness.

And we see the inflow.

So people entering the homeless response system is significant.

So we have to look at both sides of that coin because they absolutely are related.

Well, speaking of both sides of the coin, what about business owners or people who are driving around or just concerned about how, you know, someone who is experiencing homelessness might affect their business?

What do we say to those people?

Megan, what do you think I would say?

You know, people experiencing homelessness are people.

And I think that's a really important thing to remember.

It's easy when we're talking about numbers, to kind of get lost in the data and forget that this is a human issue at its core.

That said, I can empathize with the struggles that business owners face.

And I understand that many of these challenges and the byproducts of homelessness, those are real.

I think it's really important for us to remember that homelessness is a complex issue, and then it's really going to take the community responding holistically.

And all of us working together, to see the progress that we want to see.

And so my hope would be that business owners, you know, would reach out, come alongside us and join us as part of the solution.

Well, and you made a great point there, Megan.

Focusing on perhaps the percentages or the numbers, do you think that takes away from what's actually going on?

I mean, I personally feel like I've noticed more encampments lately.

I've seen a lot of new faces that I haven't seen in a while.

How bad is this situation?

Actually, what do you think, Megan?

I mean, again, we've talked about it, but homelessness is just so visible.

It's a very visible social problem.

Unlike, you know, other, other parts of kind of the poverty system.

Right.

We can see homelessness.

So, so I think that a lot of the nuance gets lost, when community members are driving around town and seeing it with their own eyes.

And again, I think the important thing to remember is that those are all people, and that they're people deserving of, of dignity and kindness, and that as community members, when we see people experiencing homelessness, you know, one of the easiest and best things we can do, is look them in the eye and wave and recognize that that's a person.

And Jamie made a great point earlier partnerships are really key here.

I spoke with the executive director of the Housing Authority.

I spoke with you earlier.

Let's talk about partnerships.

How are we all working together to make this happen?

So that's my job.

Yeah, it's it's really exciting.

So, with the partnership as the lead agency, my job is to help support all of the service partners that are working on this issue together to help bring the Faith-Based community alongside and just make sure that we're, all pulling in the same direction.

So I get the great privilege of working with all of the service providers, these ladies, shelter providers, other organizations that are providing education opportunities and identity documents and furniture packages to people moving into new housing.

And we just really look at the whole system and how we can work together on those kind of big targets.

How can we reduce the number of people that are entering the homeless response system?

How can we eliminate long term homelessness so people aren't stuck in homelessness?

And how can we expand housing exit so that people can move through?

And I think that's such a great privilege.

So my team has some project managers and some trainers.

We just work together with everybody to help identify gaps in the system and opportunities for us to to work together and help support that effort.

That's awesome.

Well, I really want to lay this out though.

So we have people who are currently experiencing homelessness.

We have people that will predictably experience homelessness.

We said it was lack of housing, lack of being able to afford anything.

What else is it?

And then what are the how do we combat each of those issues on the other side?

Megan, what do you think I would say?

You know, a lot of times when we think about homelessness, the kneejerk is to kind of think about the individual circumstance that is catalyzing the experience.

I think it's important to zoom back and look at all of the systems that are impacting the homelessness experience.

So, you know, Rachel, Jamie, they've mentioned many of those, lack of livable wages, lack of access, to health care, mental health care, quality education.

You know, all of those systems impact the homeless response system.

We are really kind of the last the last ditch effort for folks, you know, people when people hit our system, every other system has failed them.

And so it's always the complex interplay of, of multiple systems at many different levels.

So we're doing a lot of great things here.

We're working together, we're working with community.

But what do we need?

Jamie, what do you think?

Resources.

You know, to be perfectly honest, we are restricted in the progress that we can make and the speed in which we can move by resources.

If we had more funding, we could house more people.

We could support more people, and we could make progress faster.

So we're using all of the dollars that we have and, looking for, every opportunity we can to expand those services and supports what this final question is for all of you.

But, you know, those watching at home for people like me who care deeply about this issue but maybe don't know what to do, how can we help?

I think, a couple of things.

I think, like Megan said, you can see people for their inherent dignity.

I think that's a really good start.

And I think, showing up, you know, maybe taking a look at the Key to Home website.

That's a really great start.

There's all of our agencies are represented there.

You can see everyone who's in the homeless response system and what they're part of, this system is and if something speaks to you, reach out and find a way to get engaged.

Jamie, what do you think?

Yeah.

Rachel said all of the things.

Yeah.

To the key to home.

Okay.

Org, we have volunteer opportunities for the different organizations across the system, so that's a great way to find an opportunity to get plugged in.

Of course, we always need resources so you can make donations.

There's a place on our website to support the system.

All of the organizations would like donations and then, you know, supplies.

But I'll let Megan talk about the specific kinds of things.

But yeah, that that's what I was going to say.

You know, donations are super important.

It also takes a lot of stuff to to yeah, to run our programs.

Most of us keep kind of up to date supply lists on our website.

So again, I think that these strategies are really great.

But, you know, in the summertime, it's things like sunscreen, bug spray, underwear, always a huge need in the winter, we shift over to, you know, things that protect you from the cold hats, gloves.

But again, check our websites.

We are always.

We are always looking for stuff.

So.

Well, that's all the time that we have today.

I want to thank you all for joining us, and thank you for the work that you do every day here in Oklahoma City.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yeah, really great conversation.

Thank you.

Cassidy, we're going to take a geology lesson in this week's national view and learn more about an extensive new trail system in the Texas Canyon, which is actually located in Arizona.

Follow me.

So far, that story, courtesy of our partners at Arizona Public Media.

Well, Texas Canyon is really special.

Just because you do see this landscape when you go over I-10.

The rocks are what first draw your eye.

You go over Texas.

Can you say whoa if something weird is going on here?

But there's no way to get into it except on private property.

And so the fact that Emerald has this trail system that they've now opened to the public is really awesome, because it gives visitors a way to actually walk through these rock formations.

When people find out that I'm a geologist.

The number one question that they ask is, how are those boulders in Texas Canyon get there?

Geologists have known for more than 100 years that there are lots of granites in southeast Arizona.

There was not a tectonic explanation for why the granites were here until plate tectonics emerged in the early 70s, when oceanic crust was subducted underneath North America 50 million years ago, it didn't go down its normal steep angle and so it slid under southeast Arizona.

And only when it came this far east did that slab, as we call it, penetrate the 100 kilometer depth required for a granite to form through crustal melting.

The granite used its way up granite, cut by very regular fractures.

If we can explore our way through the granite, we'd be exploring through cubes of granite.

The fractures are conduits for hot fluids that came in along the sides and base and top of the cubes, and eroded chemically.

The corners to the point where, when surface erosion takes over, the corners are completely rounded off and the cubes are transformed into spheroid heads and ellipsoids.

The rocks create a fantastic opportunity for habitat diversity.

This habitat is more twin than Sonoran.

And it's also not really desert.

It's semi-arid grassland.

You get several species of oak.

Those are in the rocks.

And when you get down into the grasslands, this switches to mesquite.

We have 30 or more species of aster family.

We have lots of things in the bean family.

There's some really cool milkweeds here.

So I wanted to make baskets.

At the age of five, I started weaving.

My mom was the one that taught nine girls.

We do a prayer for the people here that they allowed us to pick and, and also for our creator, who is taking care of care of us by providing those materials for us.

This is what we call Maha, and it's progress that comes from this plant right here.

This from the couplet, that's the yucca plant, the white duckling.

Who is to come on an annual basis.

And we go way out there, and there's this big tree where my mom and my sisters, two of my sisters, would sit while we're out there picking.

That's where they're at.

And then they start off putting them kind of in loose bundles.

Come on, muck here.

It's after the autumn workshop hammock because they couldn't see our way to my mat quilt.

But that's Joe Hammock is the heart to here.

Over there.

That one we call high.

And that's where we get these from.

These are the roots of that plant.

And you have to think in order to get this, you have to be careful not to try to take all of them.

If you take too much off, you're going to kill that plant.

We hired an amazing trail designer, Serena Rana.

She spent a couple of years on this property, walking every square inch so that she could lay out an amazing trail system that really takes you through this geology, the botany out here.

And that really allows you to get up close and personal with those formations.

On the next edition of the Oklahoma News Report, the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

We're going to check out new programs designed to help Oklahomans living with disabilities live their very best lives.

That's coming up Friday at seven.

We're going to stay so long this week with a look at the Summer splash adoption event at the Midtown Mud Dog Park in Oklahoma City, put together for us by OTA's Legacy Hotel.

Now remember, you can access additional news content by visiting our website, TV, and if you would like to watch any of our reports again, they will be available on our YouTube channel by Monday evening.

For all of us who play a role in putting this newscast on the air each week on Rich.

Have a great weekend.

Oh!

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