Growing Life, Feeding Hope, Connecting Community; How You Can Help

www.athirdplace.org 918-691-3223 grassroots all volunteer

growing healthy lives and neighborhoods in the 74126 and 74130 zipcodes  of far north tulsa through small acts done with great love

Why We Are Here

  Our zipcodes have the lowest life expectancies in Tulsa. We die some 11 to 14 years sooner than residents on the other side of town. We are changing that!

We Respond With…Justice. Food. Art. Parties.

Transforming a block of dilapidated properties into a community garden park

Repurposing a vandalized church building into a community center, free food store, art space, computer center and free wifi, free bookstore, laundry, shower

Leading public blight to beauty projects, neighborhood planning and action, helping create community advisory boards, holding festivals

Becoming a service learning and missional center for schools, churches, persons

Awards: Dan Allen Center For Social Justice Local Champion Award, Friends of Anita Hill Pioneer Award, Oklahoma and Southwest Recreation and Parks Awards, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Award, Leadership Tulsa Star Award

How You Can Help

We Are A 501c3 Non-Profit. Monthly or one-time Online Donations can be made at www.athirdplace.org/donate. 

Checks can be made out to A Third Place Community Foundation, 5920 N. Owasso Ave., Tulsa, OK 74126. 

We can take stock donations. 

Call Ron Robinson 918-691-3223 for more info or site visits.

Current Projects To Match and Fund

@The Park: Greenhouse $2,500, Garden Kitchen $2,000, Aquaponics $3,000, Hoop House Expansion $1,500, Children’s Garden Expansion $1,500

@The Center: Remodeling Community Room for Bookstore, Laundry, Computers, Meetings and Meals Space $6,000, Food Store & Art Space Expansion $3,500, Permaculture Outdoors Project, $4,000

@The Foundation: Underwrite Leadership Retreat $1,000, Sponsor Festival $1,000, Be a “Bill Blesser”—pay one or more of our monthly $100 water bills to help provide water for those w/o; $550 monthly mortgage; $500 monthly electrical; Monthly sustaining supporter for $10, $20, $50, $100 or more.

Name on card__________________________________________Ph___________

Address___________________________________________________________

CC Kind/ #______________________________________________Exp.___Code__

State Below Donation For Project Purpose. Circle Monthly or one-time support. _____________________________________________________________

Thank you. We will be in touch. 

Renewing A Sense of Place in Far North Tulsa (McLain area and Turley neighborhoods): A Little Bit About A Lot We Do

Renewing “A Sense of Place” In Far North Tulsa

A Third Place Community Foundation, www.athirdplace.org & facebook

Justice. Food. Art. Parties.

WE ARE PLACE-BASED. Our Area: The 74126 and 74130 zipcodes, especially 46^th St. N. to 76^th St. N. and Highway 75 to the Osage County Line. Part of the Tulsa McLain School District. Includes both Tulsa incorporated area and the unincorporated community of Turley. Also our Free Food Store serves Sperry. Our Community GardenPark and Orchard has no geographic restrictions. Some 11,500 residents in our two mile radius; three-fourths of those are on the city side. We have lost 1,000 since 2012.

OUR CULTURAL HISTORY: Cherokee Nation. The Turley Community and Its School District until mid 1930s stretched to Mohawk Blvd. Post WW Two expansion of residential areas, primarily white working class aerospace and oil industries. Segregated Area until late Sixties and Integration of McLain, cutting offerings, white flight of businesses and professions and residences and churches and civic groups 1967 to 1977. By mid-1980s, declining population, rising poverty rates, abandoned houses, environmental decline.  

OUR RESPONSES:

In 2007, four years after beginning, we turned our CHURCH INSIDE OUT and focused organization on community concerns and connections and opened up a community center with a computer center, library, clothing room, meeting space and soon housed an OU Health Clinic and began working with OU Graduate Social Work program on community forums and projects. Called it A THIRD PLACE as part of the global third places or third spaces movement of creating free public spaces to grow community sense of place and connections where people could meet and work with people who are different from them to make a difference around them, especially for us “third places” in places of poverty and neglect.

In 2009 we formed A Third Place Community Foundation as a non-faith-based non-profit, and began demonstration community garden on donated church land. In 2010 we raised funds aided by a project by the OU Graduate Design Studio, to buy the block of abandoned neglected burned out properties and illegal dump site across from where our demonstration garden was located, and with federal stimulus funds we began clearing it; that year we also bought a large abandoned church building to move the community center into for expansion. In 2011 as the OU health clinic closed with us, we began working with OU Graduate Social Work intern and classes to develop a lay health worker plan that would use our residents mentoring our residents who go to the emergency room the most, and the “medical mentors” would be trained by OU community medicine residents but funding never came to initiate the program. We shifted to become a “Social Determinants of Health Clinic”

In 2011 in our new space in the old vandalized church building we expanded our programs for the community center meeting space, free bookstore, computer center, art room, clothing and more room, and expanded our food pantry and store. We hold community festivals in both the Center and at the GardenPark and Orchard.

In 2011 we won an online contest for the community orchard; and we received a federal home loan bank grant for our park site preparation. For the past five years we have been living and growing in and adding to both of our properties, as well as working on blighted areas in the community.

We are more than our statistics. We have strengths and spirit, and beautiful land, and people helping people in many ways. But, also….

1.     LIFE EXPECTANCY GAP DRIVES OUR MISSION. 74130 dies 14 years sooner than 74133.  74126 10.7 years sooner. We and others are making a difference; when we began our missional transformation in 2007, the gap for the 74126 was 13.8 years. Life expectancy studies reveal 10 percent comes from clinical treatment (we have worst health care access rates), 20 percent comes from genetics; that leaves 70 percent of the impact to come from lifestyle choices (50 percent) and environmental factors (20 percent) much of which contributes to the capacity to make good lifestyle choices of eating healthy and exercising, staying off addictive substances: wild dogs, lack of sidewalks and streetlights, neglected properties, illegal dumping, healthy food desert, poor transportation, crime, poverty stresses, too poor for health insurance, etc.) 

Unemployment numbers are double the state average. WE MOVED FROM HOSTING HEALTH CLINIC TO BECOMING A SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH CENTER.

2.     FOOD & WATER INSECURITY Affects Abilities for Healthy Responses: 2009 OU and Third Place Foundation nutrition study: 60 percent can’t afford healthy food; 55 percent worry about amount of food they have; 6 percent use spoiled food; 29 percent adults skip meals. 31 percent receive food from church, 35 percent borrow food from family, 25 percent borrow food from friends, 25 percent adults skip entire day from eating, 29 percent adults skip meals, 26 percent did not eat and are hungry at time of survey, 43 percent eat less than they should, 60 percent eat low cost foods, 52 percent cannot afford nutritious meals, 57 percent run out of food. 29 percent have no affordable source of food in community, 63 percent know about a food pantry, 56 percent rate the food quality in our area as fair or poor, 59 percent indicate food in area expensive or very expensive relative to budget. Overall Health: 56 percent not currently healthy, 41 percent health is fair or poor, 54 percent are overweight, 66 percent say they should weigh less, 47 percent smoke or use other tobacco.

3.     2013 OU and Third Place Foundation CHOICES study just at our Food Store community: 52.6 percent high food insecurity; 42.1 percent very high food insecurity, experiencing hunger symptoms when surveyed; 68.4 percent of households have at least one member with nutrition-related chronic disease; 53 percent depression; 47 percent anxiety; 53 percent high blood pressure; 32 percent high cholesterol; 47 percent obese and 21 percent overweight.  Our demographic at food store: 68 percent women, 42 percent black, 36 percent white, 63 percent under $10,000 annual household income; 5 percent employed, 47.4 percent disabled, 42 percent less than high school education and 16 percent have a high school degree. High number without water in home, often electric, often without adequate housing.

4.  We connect with and serve and serve with some 1000 of our neighbors monthly through our food store, gardens, community center and art day events, and various local justice coalitions (advisory boards for health dept, park, neighborhood partners, pre-release center, schools) of the 11,500 in our primary service area. Our population has declined by 1000 in the past four years which means the needs have increased as more has closed. (governmental response is driven by numbers and not by need; story of post office and schools closed and  planned bus service). DOWNSTREAM IS UPSTREAM.

5. VOTING LEADS TO CIVIC HEALTH; CIVIC CONNECTION LEADS TO PHYSICAL HEALTH. Lowest voting turnout in the metropolitan area. My precinct 20 percent turnout average; precinct at All Souls est 50 percent. Highest percentages of people of color in precinct lowest turnout areas. Disparities of numbers of precincts and access to polls and to candidates and officials. 7 precincts in all four zip codes covering all or part of our area compared to 8 in the 74114 and 15 in 74133. Working with UCO and LWV and others on statewide analysis and response.  

NEXT MAJOR STEPS

for the GardenPark and Orchard: finish the greenhouse, add aquaponics and kitchen; construct the 2100 sq ft hoop house; expand the Children’s Garden; construct a stage, a deck, and a shade area, begin community outdoor art and music, Create community engagement areas, service learning outdoor classrooms, Launch the annual Grow Pots program to help families at the food store to grow their own food at home. Help people start smaller gardens on abandoned lots in their neighborhoods. Become a site for education and entrepreneurs. Partnering with OU Graduate Design Studio again on plans.

for the Community Center: Finish the Community Room in the south building for the free bookstore, computer area, classroom, kitchen, meeting space, laundry; move and expand the art rooms and studio and create a gallery in the Central Building; expand the food store with a third room for shopping and added storage; Finish the outside Permaculture Flood Management Project, and outdoor deck and gardens and benches and small hoop house. Reconstruct the basement into permanent and temporary residences.

For the Wider Community: Through expanding retreats, Help others begin place-based, relational renewal initiatives in other parts of the area, and elsewhere, that focus on “relocation to abandoned places (teaming with remainers, returners, relocaters), reconciliation through repentance and reparation, and redistribution of goods and the common good.”  

A Note about the Image Accompanying this Post: In the summer, 2016 we hosted an intern, Leidy Rogers, from the College of Social Justice; she took as her project making community art and placing it in the community in places of high visibility and high blight, to show the world that beauty resides in our community even in its bleakest spots. This was one of those. 

Justice is Not Love at a Distance: Presentation to Reconciliation Symposium

Social Justice Panel 5-Minute Presentation at Reconciliation Symposium Tulsa, Fri. May 27

Rev. Ron Robinson

When I think justice I think right relationship. For When I hear the word justice, because of my seminary training in biblical Greek and my first career as a newspaper journalist, I hear and think about justification, from where we get the use of the word justifying, as in justifying lines of type on a page, justify left or right or center, how is something brought into alignment, into right relationship, into reconciliation. 

We might think of justice, justification, alignment, right relationship, reconciliation then as acts of being in solidarity with others, being an ally, in an alignment with them.

And because of my faith, when I think about justice I don't think just about "any old them" to be in alignment or right relationship with; not those who look or think or have the resources and blessings I do, but I think about aligning myself with God who aligns or justifies or is in right relationship particularly in and with those who are we might say "out of alignment" as the world treats them, those who have been cast out of right relationship for a variety of causes and reasons but particularly as part of social and economic and political and even sometimes,  especially even sometimes, religious oppressions, and from the sufferings of body, mind and spirit. If I want to be in right relationship with the loving and liberating spirit of life I know as God then I need to be in right relationship also with those for whom God seeks to be in alignment with, the Sacredness identifying with them, and that is not the winners but the losers in our cultures, not the greatest and most prosperous and strongest but the least, the poor, the vulnerable, not the smartest and the most resourced, but the struggling and those alone, not those who hang out in cool trendy places or safe convenient spaces, but those who have been on the wronged end of the truth that so much of one's quality of life depends on what zipcode you live in. 

I live and work in the zipcode with now an 11 year life expectancy gap between us and the zipcodes on the southside of Tulsa. It has improved in the past nine years from 14 years difference, but is still outrageously high.  Social justice to me and my neighbors is a life and death thing then at its core, and those in our zipcode are poorer and more African American than the other zipcodes so this injustice of basic life and health is felt primarily by them, and not me except as how I am related to them, so it is rooted in the intersections of racism and classism, and because we have more women as sole or major breadwinners, and more women incarcerated, this injustice of life and death itself is rooted also in sexism.  

But what if we completely erase that life expectancy gap, Will we have arrived at social justice? No, because Social Justice is not something we arrive at, can declare is over, victory won, USA USA, but is a process we keep working to make a habit out of, a spiritual habit I would say. And that is itself one reason for its difficulty to engage more people in; there is no easy quick fix, no red pill you can take and the world becomes right. Instead, because we are the way we are, the universe is the way it is,  we will always be in the process of needing to be in deeper and truer relationships with those suffering, and more mindful of our own sufferings so we can be with others. We will keep getting out of justification, and as a result need to keep justice-making. 

As a friend in my Lead North class said about racial reconciliation, we can't be re-conciled if we were never conciled to begin with. Reconciliation is a way of life then too, though it itself has gotten a bad name in recent years as we have seen groups of people try to have a false sense of justification, justice, alignment, to have reconciliation without its requisites of repentance and reparations. Being in true relationship with the suffering means not letting words like social justice or reconciliation be used too lightly and loosely and cheaply, especially by those who have benefited from the misalignment of the world. 

Our justice task then in society is to focus on being rightly related, in justification with one another, especially those who are different from us in the many ways of our diverse world; it is about who we hang out with, who we live with, who we eat with, who we shop with, ride the bus with, who we get out of our comfort zone with. Only when we do that, then should we offer up solutions, legislation. When I hear people and especially elected officials denigrating those on food stamps, or who are too poor to qualify for Obamacare, or who struggle to find one part time job let alone the three that are needed for a middle class wage, or schools on the low end of testing scores, or seek to shame and ostracize gay, lesbian, transgender people and others, I want to interrupt and ask them first before they say anything to tell me about the poor, sick, unemployed, parent teacher student in a school in a low income area, or gay, lesbian, transgender person that they know, who they have spoken to about their life let alone who they have lived with.

Sometimes it is said Justice is love at a distance.  I would maintain you can't have justice or love at a distance, removed from the daily life of those to which you seek to be rightly related. Not by writing checks, sending letters, maybe not even by marching, though maybe each of those is a foot in the door to right relationship and justice. 

The guide I use is the 3Rs of social justice community forming work; the first R is for relocating, or returning, or remaining to be with those who are especially in need of relationships and the resiliency that comes from being in right relationships. Social justice is about being someone who sees those from whom others turn away from, who hears them into their own speech, who gets them, who learns from them. The second R is for the ongoing process of authentic reconciliation that is founded upon a constant state of repentance and reparations. It is the thing that keeps relocation returning remaining from turning into gentrification and injustice. And the third R is for the way to get real about reconciliation and what relocation teaches you and that is Redistribution, the realignment or justification if you will, the Redistribution, of goods, yes, and of the common good. 

Why We Exist; What We Have Done; Our Next Steps With Your Help

 

       

 Quick Look at our 74126, 74130 McLain/Turley Area And Our Response and Major Next Steps Needed

A Third Place Community Foundation, www.athirdplace.org

We also serve Sperry through our free food store, and the gardenpark and orchard is for all with no geographic restrictions.

Proximate Boundaries: 46^th to 76^th St. North, Highway 75 to Osage County Line

We are more than our statistics. We have strengths and spirit, and beautiful land, and people helping people in many ways. But, also….

1.     We die 10.7 years sooner than in midtown just 6 miles away on Peoria Ave. We and others are making a difference; when we began in 2007, the life expectancy gap was 13.8 years. Life expectancy studies reveal 10 percent comes from clinical treatment, 20 percent comes from genetics; that leaves 70 percent of the impact to come from lifestyle choices (50 percent) and environmental factors (20 percent, much of which contributes to the capacity to make good lifestyle choices).

2.     Rated Second Worse Zipcode in Tulsa for health outcomes: based on 1 best and 5 worst scale, the 74126 is 4.320 and our neighbor 74106 is the worst at 4.570. 74130 is 3.950 the fifth worst. By comparison 74114 is 2.150, so more than twice healthier. Our zipcode has the Worst health care access rates.

3.     2009 OU and Third Place Foundation nutrition study: 60 percent can’t afford healthy food; 55 percent worry about amount of food they have; 6 percent use spoiled food; 29 percent adults skip meals. .31 percent receive food from church, 35 percent borrow food from family, 25 percent borrow food from friends, 25 percent adults skip entire day from eating, 29 percent adults skip meals, 26 percent did not eat and are hungry at time of survey, 43 percent eat less than they should, 60 percent eat low cost foods, 52 percent cannot afford nutritious meals, 57 percent run out of food. The Food environment: 29 percent have no affordable source of food in community, 63 percent know about a food pantry, 56 percent rate the food quality in Turley area as fair or poor, 59 percent indicate food in Turley area expensive or very expensive relative to budget. Overall Health: 56 percent not currently healthy, 41 percent health is fair or poor, 54 percent are overweight, 66 percent say they should weigh less, 47 percent smoke or use other tobacco.

4.     2013 OU and Third Place Foundation study just at our Food Store: 52.6 percent high food insecurity; 42.1 percent very high food insecurity, experiencing hunger symptoms when surveyed; 68.4 percent of households have at least one member with nutrition-related chronic disease; 53 percent depression; 47 percent anxiety; 53 percent high blood pressure; 32 percent high cholesterol; 47 percent obese and 21 percent overweight.

5. Our demographic at food store: 68 percent women, 42 percent black, 36 percent white, 63 percent under $10,000 annual household income; 5 percent employed, 47.4 percent disabled, 42 percent less than high school education and 16 percent have a high school degree.

6. We connect and serve with some 1000 of our neighbors monthly, of the 11,500 in our primary service area. Our population has declined by 1000 in the past four years which means the needs have increased as more has closed. Unemployment numbers are double the state average.

Our Response:

In 2007 we turned our church inside out and focused organization on community concerns and connections and opened up a community center with a computer center, library, clothing room, meeting space and soon housed an OU Health Clinic and began working with OU Graduate Social Work program on community forums and projects. Called it A Third Place as part of the global third places or third spaces movement of creating free public spaces where people could meet and work with people who are different from them to make a difference around them.

In 2009 we formed A Third Place Community Foundation as a non-faith-based non-profit, and began demonstration community garden on donated church land. In 2010 we raised funds aided by a project by the OU Graduate Design Studio, to buy the block of abandoned neglected burned out properties and illegal dump site across from where our demonstration garden was located, and with federal stimulus funds we began clearing it; that year we also bought a large abandoned church building to move the community center into for expansion. In 2011 as the OU health clinic closed with us, we began working with OU Graduate Social Work intern and classes to develop a lay health worker plan that would use our residents mentoring our residents who go to the emergency room the most, and the “medical mentors” would be trained by OU community medicine residents but funding never came to initiate the program.

In 2011 in our new space in the old vandalized church building we expanded our programs for the community center meeting space, free bookstore, computer center, art room, clothing and more room, and expanded our food pantry and store. We hold community festivals in both the Center and at the GardenPark and Orchard.

In 2011 we won an online contest for the community orchard; and we received a federal home loan bank grant for our park site preparation. For the past five years we have been living and growing in and adding to both of our properties, as well as working on blighted areas in the community.   

Next major steps

for the GardenPark and Orchard: finish the greenhouse, add aquaponics and kitchen; construct the 2100 sq ft hoop house; expand the Children’s Garden; build the 20 foot long Welcome Table; construct a stage, a deck, and a shade area. Launch the annual Grow Pots program to help families at the food store to grow their own food at home. Help people start smaller gardens on abandoned lots in their neighborhoods.

for the Community Center: Finish the Community Room in the south building for the free bookstore, computer area, classroom, kitchen, meeting space; move and expand the art rooms and studio and create a gallery in the Central Building; expand the food store with a third room for shopping and added storage; Finish the outside Permaculture Flood Management Project, and outdoor deck and gardens and benches and small hoop house. 

Our 2016 Area Demographics and Disparities

Quick Look at New Data for our Area 

Served by A Third Place Community Foundation

2016

Population

City of Tulsa area Served by Us: north of 46^th St.

Population declined twice as much from 2012 as was projected to, down 11.2 percent from then, down 19.9 percent from 2000 at same time as national population grew by 14.6 percent; a difference gap of nearly 35 percent; now 9,082. In next five years projected to increase by 1.2 percent compared to national projection of 3.7 percent.

Unincorporated area Served by Us: generally north of 56^th St. to 76^th St.

Population declined 11.4 percent from 2012, and has declined 14.9 percent from 2000 as the national population increased by 14.6 percent, a gap of some 29.5 percent; it is projected to rise barely to .01 percent by 2021. Currently 2,432.

Total population served is 11,514.

Ethnicity

City Side: Anglos 15.5 percent, expected to rise to 17.7; All others 84.5 percent; African American population 69.3 percent (a drop from 85.5 percent in 2012), projected to continue decline in five years to 64.7 percent. Note that 50 years ago there was virtually zero percent African American population in the area. Hispanics at 4.7 up from 2.2 percent in 2012, projected to rise to 5.5 percent in five years.

County side: Anglos at 55.6 percent expected to decline to 54.9 percent in 2021; African American at 14.7 percent expected to decline to 13.6 percent. Hispanics at 12.5 percent expected to rise to 14 percent in 2021. Native Americans and others 17.3 percent staying about the same in 2021. 

Age

City Side: Millenials 28.6 percent are top category but have declined from 34. 1 percent in 2012 and are projected to decline more to 26.6 percent.   
Generation Z (0 to 14) 25.7 (most overrepresented group in the area) projected to rise to 33.2 percent in 2021, up from 15.8 in 2010 census and up from 19.1 percent in 2012 study.As the older populations decrease, the newest generation will automatically see its percentages increase; in multi generational families? families before school age?
So those born 1982 and later (0 to 34 years old) account for 44.3 percent of our population in this area;not much economic accumulation. Median age is 31.8

County Side: Survivors (age 35 to 55) 27.1% of the total population in the area. Boomers (age 56 to 73) make up 20.9% of the population which compared to a national average of 19.5% makes them the most over-represented group in the area. Median age is 39.5. 

 Income

City Side: Per capita income is $12,857, up from 11,217 in 2012. projected to rise to 14,050 in 2021. Oklahoma per capita income is $23,094. Median household income is $26,279. State median is $42,979.

Some 31.2 percent of our Households have average income under $15,000 at 31.2 percent, our top income percentage category;  this number has risen from 26.4 percent in 2010 census; projected to decline to 29.5 percent in 2021.

Some 44.4 percent of households fall below the povery line, and 23 percent of those have children. Poverty status is below $24,250 for family of 4. Compares to 13.9 percent nationally, and 7.9 percent with children.  

Households without retirement income: 91.6 percent compared to 81.5 nationally.

County Side: Per capita income is $18,929, expected to rise to $20,029 in five years.  Median household income is $37,070, expected to rise to $40,022.

Largest income category is those making under 15,000 at 18.7 percent. Household below poverty line 20.2 percent, 11.9 percent with children. . Some 82.6 percent without retirement income.

Education

City Side:  84.4 percent over 25yo graduated from high school (up from 73.3 percent in 2012) compared to national avg of 86.4 percent, but college graduates 8.3 percent of those over 25 (compared to 7.6 percent in 2012) and compared to 29.4 percent in US. Currently 15.4 percent enrolled in college compared to national avg of 28.4 percent.

County Side: 78 percent of those 25 and over have high school, college graduates account for 9.7 percent, Enrolled in college is 17.4 percent.

Employment

City Side: unemployment is 10.8 percent compared to 5.6 percent nationally, and 4.1 percent in Oklahoma.

County Side: unemployment is 8.3 percent.

Transportation

City side: Almost 13 percent no vehicle, some 42.2 percent with one vehicle. Some 51.9 percent travel up to 30 minutes to work. 17 percent travel up to 45 minutes;  

County Side: 4.2 percent no vehicle; 34.2 with one vehicle; 47.4 percent travel up to 30 minutes to work; 20.9 percent travel up to 45 minutes to work.

Cultural Concerns

City Side: Metro Multi-Ethnic Diversity and Struggling Black Families are top two cultural categories.

MMED--younger segment than most, still contains a number of individuals in 40s and 50s. single parent families and households with five or more persons ranks high, and overall household size is somewhat above average. Income and education levels low. Use of public transportation is double the national average and car pooling is higher than national average for this form of transportation. Faith involvement far above average in this segment:  Rather than have a strong leader they prefer to be left on their own without interference; concern for twelve step programs, youth social programs, personal or family counseling, church sponsored day school preferences.

SBF--This segment is concentrated in urban areas particularly in the South. Almost half of adults are without high school diplomas, median household income is far below the national average, and four in ten households own no vehicle. This segment leads all other groups in watching Saturday mid-day and afternoon television. Strong faith involvement and belief in God are well above the national average. Primary concerns are Racial/Ethnic Prejudice, Affordable Housing (ranks number one), Neighborhood Gangs, Neighborhood Crime and Safety (ranks number two), Abusive Relationships and Alcohol/Drug Abuse. This segment ranks nearly last in concern for Recreation or Leisure Time.

Household concerns: racial ethnic prejudice, finding spiritual teaching, neighborhood gangs, crime and safety, finding good church, affordable housing

County Side: Laboring Country Families (36.6 percent) and Working Country Consumers (15.7 percent).

LCF— average in median household income. Little more than half of the women are in the labor force. Home ownership is high, with housing units typically being single family dwellings, though property values are lower than most.

Faith involvement is above the national average in all categories. Belief in God is high, and acceptance of the changing racial/ethic face of America is low.

The primary concerns of this group are Divorce, Finding Spiritual Teaching, Abusive Relationships, Finding a Good Church, Teen/Child Problems and Parenting Skills.

WCC--- This segment is evenly split between urban and rural populations. It consists of persons of all ages, with income and education somewhat below average. Blue collar employment is high, as are precision production and craft

occupations. Over two-thirds of all homes are single-unit structures and mobile homes make up a noticeable percentage of the total. The primary concerns of this group are Adequate Food, Health Insurance, Day-to-Day Financial Worries, Finding Spiritual Teaching, Abusive Relationships and Stress.

Below is some background summaries. 

I. Our Service Area within the City Limits

Population Overall Continues Dropping

9,082 residents, a drop of 19.9 percent since the year 2000 at same time US population grew by 14.6 percent.

Since our 2012 Percept Data Study, this area has lost 1,155 residents or a drop of 11.2 percent (our 2012 study projected a decline of 5.1 percent, so it has more than doubled the decline)

This parallels with the closure in 2012 of many of our neighborhood schools by TPS, though all of them have now been reopened as charter or other focused schools and not necessarily serving just the neighborhood area.It also reflects the continued difficulty in jobs, transportation, and abandoned structures, loss of post office.

But Projected to Grow: by 2021 the area is projected to increase by 1.2 percent, or 110 additional persons compared to national growth of 3.7 percent.

Lifestyle Diversity: overall low (12 or 50 lifestyles represented; evidence of income and other segregations; metro multi-ethnic diversity is most prevalent with 46 percent.  However, racial and ethnic diversity is extremely high compared to national avg; Anglos 15.5 percent (projected to increase to 17.7 percent); others 84.5 percent compared to national 39 percent nationally.

African Americans at 69.3 percent of this population (was at 85.5 percent in 2012 and had been projected to rise; remember that 50 years ago there was virtually zero percent African Americans in this area). Projection for next five years: Native Americans and others (Hispanics) projected to be fastest growing and increasing numbers by 16.6 percent. In 2010 census Hispanics were 3.8 percent; in 2012 study were down to 2.2 percent (effect of state legislation causing cultural retrenching); now at 4.7 percent and expected to continue rising to 5.5 percent. Native Americans, Asian, Others now at 10.5 percent, an increase from 5.3 percent in 2012 study (which predicted a slow decline) and predicted to rise to 12.1 percent in 2021 compared to 8.6 percent in 2010 census.

[as the African American population percentages decline, the percentages of remaining ethnicities automatically rises].

Gender: 53.8 percent female up from 53.6 in 2012 study, down from 54.2 in 2010 census and projected slight decline 53.5 percent in 2021. Male at 46.2 expected to rise to 46.5 in 2021.

Generations: Millenials 28.6 percent projected decline to 26.6, down from 34. 1 percent in 2012;  

Generation Z (0 to 14) 25.7 (most overrepresented group in the area) projected to rise to 33.2 percent in 2021, up from 15.8 in 2010 census and up from 19.1 percent in 2012 study.As the older populations decrease, the newest generation will automatically see its percentages increase; in multi generational families? families before school age?

So those born 1982 and later (0 to 34 years old) account for 44.3 percent of our population in this area;not much economic accumulation.

Survivors (1961 to 1981) at 23.3 percent up from 22.9 percent in 2012, down from 25.5 in 2010 and projected to decline to 22 percent in 2021. Boomers, 1943 to 1960 births, 17.2 percent which is up from 16.4 percent in 2012 study though down from 20.1 percent in 2010 census, projected to decline to 14.5 percent in 2021. Silents and Builders, 1942 and earlier births, account for 5.2 percent (builders just .2 percent) projected to decline to 3.7 percent in 2021 down from 7.4 percent in 2010 and 7.5 percent in 2012…..Average age is 34.6 which is up from 31.4 in 2012 and projected to rise to 35.1 in 2021. Median age is 31.8 expected to stay virtually the same.

Household income: Avg is $35,224; median is $26,279 (avg is up from 33,491 in 2010 census and 33,891 in 2012; expected to rise to 38,075 in 2021; median is down from 28,295 in 2010 and down slightly from 26,476 in 2012, expected to rise to 27,999 in 2021).

Per capita income is $12,857, up from 11,217 in 2012 and 11,977 in 2010; projected to rise to 14,050 in 2021.

[Households by income under $15,000 at 31.2 percent, our top income category; up from 26.4 percent in 2010 census and projected to decline to 29.5 percent in 2021. ]

Households by poverty status ($24,250 for family of 4): 
44.4 percent below the poverty line (23 percent of those with children; compared to 13.9 percent nationally and 7.9 percent nationally with children).

Households without retirement income: 91.6 percent compared to 81.5 nationally.

Extremely Non-traditional family structures: below avg married and two parent families. 41.9 percent never married up from 37.7 in 2012 and compared to national avg of 32.9 ; 35 percent married down from 41.8 percent in 2012 and compared to 50.2 nationally; 23.1 divorced/widowed compared to 20.6 in 2012 and 16.9 nationally. Female head of household 35.2 percent up from 32.5 in 2012 compared to 13 percent nationally. Male head of household is 7.4 percent compared to 4.9 percent nationally.

Education: very low. 84.4 percent over 25yo graduated from high school (up from 73.3 percent in 2012) compared to national avg of 86.4 percent, but college graduates 8.3 percent of those over 25 (compared to 7.6 percent in 2012) and compared to 29.4 percent in US. Currently 15.4 percent enrolled in college compared to national avg of 28.4 percent.

Employment and Occupation: 40.8 percent employed compared to 58.1 nationally; 10.8 percent unemployed compared to 5.6 nationally; 48.3 not in labor force compared to 36.3 nationally.

53.4 percent blue collar down from 56.9 in 2012, and compared to 38.5 percent nationally; 46.5 percent white collar up from 43 in 2012 and compared to 61.5 nationally; of white collar, 24.1 is administrative clerical compared to 16 nationally.

Housing: owner occupied 54 percent down from 58.8 percent in 2012 and compared to 65 percent nationally; renter at 46 percent up from 42 percent in 2012 and compared to 35 percent nationally. Median rent as of 2013 is $790 compared to $904 nationally. In 2012 rent was $513 avg.

Largest category, 42 percent of owner occupied homes, had property value under $40,000 compared to just 7.2 percent nationally.

Some 65.5 percent of homes were built between 1950 and 1969.

In 2012 study Vacant Units: 41.8 percent abandoned, not for rent or for sale. No figures in 2016 study.

Transportation: Almost 13 percent no vehicle, some 42.2 percent with one vehicle. Some 51.9 percent travel up to 30 minutes to work.

Culture:

Metro Multi-Ethnic Diversity 46.2 percent down slightly from 46.3 percent in 2012 of all households compared to 2.7 percent nationally.

Metro Multi-Ethnic Diversity: younger segment than most, still contains a number of individuals in 40s and 50s. single parent families and households with five or more persons ranks high, and overall household size is somewhat above average. Income and education levels low. Use of public transportation is double the national average and car pooling is higher than national average for this form of transportation. Faith involvement far above average in this segment:  Rather than have a strong leader they prefer to be left on their own without interference; twelve step programs, youth social programs, personal or family counseling, church sponsored day school preferences.

 Struggling Black households 34.4 percent down from 35.8 percent in 2012 compared to 2.5 percent nationally.

Struggling Black Households: This segment is concentrated in urban areas particularly in the South. Almost half of adults are without high school diplomas, median household income is far below the national average, and four in ten households own no vehicle. This segment leads all other groups in watching Saturday mid-day and afternoon television. Strong faith involvement and belief in God are well above the national average. Primary concerns are Racial/Ethnic Prejudice, Affordable Housing (ranks number one), Neighborhood Gangs, Neighborhood Crime and Safety (ranks number two), Abusive Relationships and Alcohol/Drug Abuse. This segment ranks nearly last in concern for Recreation or Leisure Time. Contributions to religious organizations, charities and educational institutions are more or less average. Asked to identify programs and characteristics they would prefer in a church, these households are more likely to indicate Bible Study and Prayer Groups (ranks number two), Spiritual Retreats, Twelve Step Programs, Food Resources and Daycare Services.

Household concerns: racial ethnic prejudice, finding spiritual teaching, neighborhood gangs, crime and safety, finding good church, affordable housing

II.                  Unincorporated Turley Neighborhood of our Service Area

Population: 2,432 down from 2,748 in 2012 and projected to rise to 2,460 in 2021.

14.9 percent decline from 2000 at time national population increased 14.6 percent.

Diversity very low 12 of 50 groups; top segment 36.7percent of all households is laboring country families. Racial ethnic diversity however very high; Anglos represent 55 percent and others 44.5 percent. Native Americans and Hispanics and others 16.5 percent. Hispanics projected to increase by 13.5 percent by 2021.

Whites at 55.6 percent expected to decline to 54.9 percent in 2021; African American at 14.7 percent expected to decline to 13.6 percent down from 16.1 percent in 2010 census; Hispanics at 12.5 percent expected to rise to 14 percent in 2021 compared to 10.5 percent in 2010 census; Native Americans and others 17.3 percent staying about the same in 2021 and from the 2010 census as well.

Generations: largest group is Survivors (35 to 55), 27.1 percent of total. Boomers (56 to 73) make up 20.9, most over-represented group compared to national 19.5 percent.

Women make up 50.3 percent of population.

Average age is 39.3; median age is 39.5.

Household income: $49,446 up from 2010 census of $43,886 and expected to rise to $51,865; median household income is $37,070 up from 2010 census 36,507 and expected to rise to $40,022 in 2021; Per capita income is $18,929 up from 2010 census of $16,538 and expected to rise to $20,029 in 2021.

Largest income category is those making under 15,000 at 18.7 percent

Household below poverty line 20.2 percent, 11.9 percent with children. . Some 82.6 percent without retirement income.

Housing: owner occupied 71.5 percent, renter 28.5 percent, median rent $751. Higher percentage 23.1 of mobile homes compared to 7.2 nationally; some 40.5 percent of homes owned are under $40,000 property value. Some 42.2 percent of homes built from 1959 and earlier, including 23.1 percent 1949 and earlier.

Nontraditional family structures but Married 51 percent, divorced/widowed 21.4 percent, single never married 27.7 percent. Female head of household 16.3 percent.

Education extremely low. 78 percent of those 25 and over have high school compared to 86.4 percent, college graduates account for 9.7 percent compared to national average of 29.4. Enrolled in college is 17.4 percent.

Household concerns that are unusually high: finding good church, spiritual teaching, gangs, divorce, teen/child problems, alcohol/drug abuse. 

Upcoming Far North Events: Growing Healthy Lives and Neighborhoods through small acts of justice done with great love, empowering residents and renewing community

Welcome Table Center/Far North Tulsa Community News

(5920 N. Owasso Ave. 918-691-3223 www.athirdplace.org)

Missional Service Visit from St. John Episcopal Church, come work with their church group as they work with us on Sat. Mar. 19 9 am at the GardenPark and Orchard, 6005 N. Johnstown Ave. Free Breakfast. 

Free Food Truck Hot Lunches at the Welcome Table Center, Weds. 11-11:45 am.  

Free Grocery Store Days Wed. & Sat. 10-12 or by appointment at the Center, serving residents of 74126, 74130, 74073, one visit per month. 

Free Saturdays 9 am Breakfast GardenPark 6005 N. Johnstown Ave.

Free Game Nights, Saturdays, 5 pm with meal at the Welcome Table Center.  

Community Art. Sat. 3:30 to 5 pm at the Welcome Table Center. All ages. Create.

Free Diabetes Empowerment Class, Mondays Mar. 21-April 25, 3:30-5 pm, 56^th St. North and MLK, Tulsa Health Depart North Center, 918-595-4075 to enroll.

Food Handlers Permit, Tues. Mar. 22, THD North Center (arrive 1:30 pm).

Free Cooking Class (Super Foods: What Are They?) Thu. Mar. 24, 6-7:30 pm, THD North Center.

Wellness Series: Strategies for Healthy Aging, Fri. Mar. 25, 10 am, THD North.

Free Tulsa Eco-Festival for Families and All, Sat. Mar. 26, 9 am to 3 pm, Tulsa Community College, NE, Apache and Harvard. Visit our booth. 

A Third Places/Welcome Table Orientation conversation with visiting Phillips Seminary class, Tues. Mar. 29, 2:30 pm at the Welcome Table Center.

Community Town Hall, Tues. Mar. 29, 7 pm O’Brien Park, 6147 N. Birmingham.

Free Senior (50 +)  Brunch Program, Tues. April 5, 9:30 am to Noon, THD North. Limited space. Call 918-595-4505 to reserve spaces.

Community Partners and Residents Planning Free Lunch, Thur. April 7 noon Welcome Table Center.   

Area Senior Potluck Lunch, Wed. April 13 12:15 pm Turley United Methodist Church, 6050 N. Johnstown Ave. (across from gardenpark)

Free Mobile Grocery Truck Day, giving out 5 tons of food in one hour, Thurs. April 21, 11 am to noon (volunteers arrive at 9:30 am) Tickets needed to receive food. Come to Wed or Sat. Food Days to receive tickets while they last.

Hosting Life on Fire Missional Church Spiritual Retreat Thu.-Sat. April 28-30. https://www.facebook.com/events/1649404838649623/

Our Greenhouse Dedication Party at the GardenPark, Sat. May 7, 2 pm.