Any doubts (and I assure there weren’t any) about our choice of Oklahoma City as the pilot city for our first Restoring Pride village were put firmly to rest this past week. Chris Wetherington and I had a series of successful meetings and get togethers with city/county officials, colleagues in the non-profit world as well as old friends.
We met with Dan Straughan and Michelle Snyder at the Homeless Alliance and the Extensions Community Center. They are doing great work to help manage and end homelessness in Oklahoma City. We shared our vision for Restoring Pride and toured their facility at NW 4th Street and toured the Extensions Community Center on NW 39th.
We popped by the office of City Council member James Cooper, the first openly gay elected city official. He was unavailable but we talked with his staff.
Our last meeting was at the Oklahoma City-County Department of Health with Dr. Patrick McGoff and Latoya Knighten. Their enthusiasm and support for what we’re doing is infectious (pun intended). The next stop is presenting our vision to their Care Council.
The critical thing we learned is no one organization is delivering the kind of comprehensive program we are building. The support for what Restoring Pride is doing is overwhelming. We are doing this!