City Of Tulsa Seeks Volunteers To Help Distribute $7 Million In Grant Funding

The City of Tulsa is asking residents for input on how to spend roughly $7 million in funding for local agencies.

Tulsa’s Grants Administration Division is leading the effort and said it hopes to recruit about 70 volunteers to help review grant proposals for agencies that city leaders say will assist Tulsans in greatest need.

Volunteers will provide input on how the city should distribute funds from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. They will offer feedback on four project proposals.

The grant money will support public services, economic development, affordable housing, and homeless shelters. Volunteers will score the proposals and provide input to help the committee decide who will receive the funds. City leaders are hoping more people will step up to assist in this major effort for Tulsans.

“If you look at low-income census tracts or block groups in Tulsa sort of 12 years ago or 8 years ago and compare them today, you see the explosion of low-income populations all over the city. But there is a seismic shift in our low-income population within Tulsa,” said Rhys Williams, of the Tulsa Grants Administration Division.

Williams said this funding helps provide services to more than 10,000 people in Tulsa, including the city’s homeless population.

“Since COVID, that has annually gone up, so we’re seeing more and more people homeless on the street. We’re seeing more and more people in need of assistance and these funds do that,” Williams said.

Nonprofits have until Friday to submit funding requests. Grant recipients will be chosen by February, and funds will be distributed around July 1.

To register for a training session, email grantsadmin@cityoftulsa.org or call 918-596-9084. The deadline to sign up as a volunteer is Nov. 29.