Tulsa Area United Way expands reach to 3 more counties, ensuring continued community support

Tulsa Area United Way is expanding and that means big changes for three northeastern Oklahoma counties. It’s stepping in to serve Rogers, Mayes and Delaware counties after a neighboring United Way chapter closed its doors earlier this year.

3 New Counties

For more than 100 years, Tulsa Area United Way has worked to solve some of our region's biggest challenges. Now that mission is spreading with the TAUW expanding its service area to include all of Rogers, Mayes and Delaware counties. Tulsa Area United Way’s president says it hasn’t expanded like this in 25 years. Now serving a total of 8 Oklahoma counties, its president says this is a natural extension of the work the group already does.

Stepping Up

TAUW president Alison Anthony says this expansion follows the closure of the United Way of Rogers and Mayes Counties in April after the retirement of its director. Before closing, the former United Way branch made sure to set aside 2 years of funding for its partners. That means agencies will stay supported through 2026 - giving the Tulsa Area United Way time to build relationships and learn about the needs in the community.

“It was an opportunity then, our board voted in April, later in April at our board meeting to say 'yes, we don’t want those counties to go unrepresented by United Way and unserved by United Way,” said Anthony.

Making an Impact

Their goal is simple: make sure no one falls through the cracks. Tulsa Area United Way says its next steps include listening sessions with local nonprofits and community members to understand how to make the biggest impact. On October 10th, TAUW is hosting a Day of Caring for those areas as well.

“We have a task force led by several of the people that are even local in the area, to say “what are the needs? How do we really move alongside the nonprofit community there. We want to start with service and impact before we even ask anybody for a penny, we want to show them that we’re there to support them and work together with them,” Anthony said. 

As with its current operations, Tulsa Area United Way will use a volunteer-driven process to determine how funds are distributed.