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Associations donate to energy assistance fund
   The Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies (OKACAA) and the Oklahoma Weatherization and Housing Advisory Council have each donated $3,000 to the Energy Conservation Assistance Fund. The fund is administered by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and supports weatherization of low
income households.
   “Low-income families, who pay 14 percent or more of their annual incomes for energy compared with 3.5 percent for other households, especially feel the impact of energy costs,” said Michael E. Jones, executive director, OKACAA.
   Weatherization includes installing storm windows, attic insulation, caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows, sealing cracks and make other repairs to reduce energy consumption. Families whose homes are weatherized save an average of $300 annually on their energy bills, Jones added.
   Individuals and businesses that contribute to the Energy Conservation Assistance Fund may be entitled to a tax credit worth 50 cents for each dollar donated.
   The Commerce Department reports that during the FY 2001 program year nearly 600 homes were weatherized, but local Community Action Agencies have waiting lists of 900 persons.

OKACAA elects officers
   Odell Gunter, Great Plains Improvement Foundation, Lawton, has been elected President of the Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies.
   Georgia Forthum, Opportunities, Inc., Watonga, was elected 1st Vice President and Karen Nichols, Delta Community Action Foundation, Purcell, was named 2nd Vice President.
   Jean Cooper, Northeast Oklahoma Community Action Agency, Jay, was elected Secretary and Jeff Schuman, Deep Fork Community Action Foundation, Okmulgee, was elected Treasurer.

Agencies collaborate to provide house through ‘Affordable Home Ownership
Opportunities for People with Disabilities’ program
   Northeast Oklahoma Community Action Agency (NEOCAA) worked with the Donna Nigh Foundation, Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Housing program and Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies (OKACAA) to make home ownership a reality for client Charles “Buster” Gould.
   NEOCAA purchased and repaired the small two bedroom home in Jay with the help of HOME funds from OHFA. Rural Development financed the loan. OKACAA assisted by providing matching Individual Development Account (IDA) funds to purchase housing essentials. The Donna Nigh Foundation donated $2,000 for closing costs and mortgage.
   The Affordable Home Ownership Opportunities for People with Disabilities program in Oklahoma provides assistance to individuals with disabilities considering home purchases. Funding is provided by a grant from the Oklahoma Developmental Disabilities Council, which in turn is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
   Gould completed a Homebuyer Education class designed to prepare him for the realities of homeownership, Jean Cooper, Executive Director, NEOCAA, said. Advocate Julie Jones and case manager Linda Dougan provided guidance and counseling to Gould.
   He works part-time for Wal-Mart and part-time at the Delaware County Friendship Home Workshop.

Great Plains employee receives Workforce Oklahoma award
   Regina Lomax, a transportation dispatcher at Great Plains Improvement Foundation, has received the Outstanding Participant Award from Workforce Oklahoma.
   A single mother with four children who had been receiving public assistance and living in public housing, her goal was to find a job.
   She attended the Workforce Oklahoma INDEX program in Lawton that teaches job skills.
   After six months of intensive training in the program, Lomax accepted a temporary position at Great Plains. After two months, she was hired as a regular employee by Great Plains.

Housing complex opens for farm laborers in Guymon
   A nearly $2 million, 32-unit duplex housing complex has been
constructed in Guymon to provide off-farm housing for laborers and their families.
   Opportunities, Inc. built the state’s first off-farm housing complex with funding from a combination of a loan and grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. Expanding cattle and hog
operations have prompted rapid growth in Texas County.

CADC converts closed school into youth center
   Boyd School, a massive brick structure in south Frederick that was a segregated school until the mid- 60s, now serves as the home for Community Action Development Corporation’s (CADC) positive youth development programs.
   The school, which had been built in the early 1900s, sat vacant for about 30 years except for annual Boyd School alumni dinners, until CADC began remodeling it,
explained Brent Morey, Executive Director.
   Renamed the Kennedy Youth Center after the last superintendent of the school, O.E. Kennedy, the building now features a:
• “meet and mingle” room with comfortable couches and a large screen television
• weight room filled with exercise equipment
• computer/study room where youth can do their homework and get after school tutoring
• game room with pool table
• sewing room complete with machines and material
   The center also has a large auditorium suitable for meetings or meals and a kitchen.
   About three years ago, a gymnasium with a full size basketball court was built behind the school building. A Head Start center is located adjacent to the building. Other features include outdoor basketball and volleyball courts.
   Sam Mitchell manages the center with help from several volunteers. Mitchell, who had worked with youth in California, was recruited by Morey six years ago to help clean up and renovate the building. “I got involved. I love it,” Mitchell said.
   The center is used by a variety of groups. Nearly 150 elementary school kids participated in a winter basketball program last year and Mitchell expect the number to climb to 200 this year.
There are summer reading and life skill programs offered at the center.
   Local law enforcement officers use the weight room. “They mingle with the kids and that’s good,” Morey said.
   Operation of the center is supported by funding from the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Local businesses paid for the electronic scoreboard and basketball backboards in the gym.
   Mitchell characterized the facility as a “prevention center.” He and the center volunteers try to “help children before they go over a cliff.” Everything is centered on the kids, he said.
   One of the newest programs, now in the planning stage, is a faith-based cooperative program. The center will play host to a community-wide church basketball league for both youth and adults. Morey expects about 200 to participate the first year.
   A variety of other groups use the center including the 4-H Club, Boy Scouts and Little League Football program.
CADC lets a local business use the gym on Fridays for gymnastic classes. “In exchange, he takes our kids at no charge,” Morey said.
   On a typical day, 25-30 junior and senior high students will drop by the center after school to shoot baskets, lift weights or use the computers.
   Mitchell said the greatest reward is watching a kid who seems to have lost his way get involved at the center and turn his life around.

35 year service awards go to eight Community Action employees
   More than 175 Community Action Agency employees from across the state received service awards at the Oklahoma Association of Community Action Agencies annual conference awards banquet on Sept. 19 at the Biltmore Hotel.
   Eight of the service award recipients have worked 35 years in the non-profit agencies created by the federal government to combat poverty. They included Berniece Morton, Big Five Community Services, Durant; Mary Jones and Ethel Robinson, Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma/Canadian Counties; Oquina Logan, Community Action Development Corporation, Frederick; Helen James, Cookson Hills Community Action Foundation, Tahlequah; Juanita Williamson, INCA Community Services, Tishomingo; Patsy Barnett, Northeast Oklahoma Community Action Agency, Jay; and Willie Byrd, Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group, Altus.

Karen Nichols honored with FredTucker Service Award
   Delta Community Action Executive Director Karen Nichols was selected to receive the Fred Tucker Service Award.
Nichols joined Delta in 1976 as an outreach worker. She was named weatherization director the following year and executive director in 1992.

Sherry McConnell selected to receive Guy Davis Award
   McIntosh County Coordinator for Deep Fork Community Action Sherry McConnell was presented the Guy Davis Leadership Award.
   Among her accomplishments, McConnell put together a coalition of civic groups to create a huge community garden to provide fresh produce for the poor, elderly and disabled.
   She came to Deep Fork four years ago as a Community Work and Training Program worker from DHS.

Scholarship awarded to Melissa Pohlmeier
   Melissa Pohlmeier, daughter of Emily Pohlmeier who is an employee of Opportunities, Inc., will receive the $2,000 Bellmon scholarship to Oklahoma State University.
   She is a marketing major earmarked to graduate in 2005.

Linda Tarpley honored with Ted Allen Award
   Linda Tarpley, Housing Director, Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group, was selected to receive the Ted Allen Memorial Award in recognition of her efforts to promote affordable housing in Oklahoma.
   The award was presented by the Oklahoma Weatherization and Housing Advisory Council.

Volunteer of the Year is Christy Farmer
   Christy Farmer from Little Dixie Community Action received Volunteer of the Years Awards from both OKACAA and Head Start.
   She has served on the Policy Council and has also served on the Personnel Committee. She is also Parent Committee Treasurer at the Boswell Center.

United gets study loan
   United Community Action has been awarded a $20,000 pre-development loan by the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency HOME Program for an affordable housing feasibility study regarding renovation on the Duncan Hotel in Pawhuska, according to Housing Connections.
   The loan also covers title clearance costs, consulting fees as well as architect, legal, engineer and
development team fees.

Little Dixie Community Action & Choctaw
Library to promote literacy through Head Start
   Little Dixie Head Start and the Choctaw County Library have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote a Head Start/Literacy project during the upcoming school year that will give Head Start children and families exposure to imagination-stirring, thought-provoking books as motivation for further learning.
   Little Dixie Head Start and the Choctaw County Library agreed on and are committed to the goal of Head Start children entering school ready to learn. Through a joint effort these two entities will plan and implement special literacy enrichment projects this year. Library cards will be issued to Head Start children and families. Library participation will be promoted and Head Start children and families will be trained on using library services and resources.

Apex Awards presented to Community Action Agencies
   Two Community Action Agencies have been honored with Apex Awards from Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) for contributions made in affordable housing from January to December 2001.
Little Dixie received the Apex Award for Elderly Housing for work on the Rouleau Hotel Project, and OHFA honored Rebecca Byrd, affordable housing director for Little Dixie, with the Friend of Affordable Housing Apex Award.
Jim Sconzo and the Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma/Canadian Counties also received the Friend of Affordable Housing Apex Award.
   In 1998, Little Dixie Community Action Agency was granted 90 days by the city to repair the historic Rouleau Hotel, or the building would be demolished. After making repairs to temporarily save the hotel, Little Dixie secured $1.6 million to transform the old hotel into Rouleau House, an apartment building for senior citizens.
   In Nov. 2001, Rouleau House opened its doors with 20 apartments, providing a safe place for senior citizens to call home.
   Byrd is a champion and friend of affordable housing for single moms, the elderly and citizens with developmental disabilities. As affordable housing director for Little Dixie, the following developments have been implemented under her leadership: NeighborWorks Homeownership Center, Individual Development Accounts program, and the Rouleau Hotel rehabilitation project.
   Byrd has created partnerships with several organizations to provide affordable housing in Choctaw, McCurtain, and Pushmataha counties.
   Sconzo helped coordinate the inaugural effort of the OHFA Open golf tournament in 2001. With the help of Sconzo and his staff at the Community Action Agency of Oklahoma City and Oklahoma/Canadian Counties, OHFA volunteers raised $17,000 to benefit homeless children for the holidays.
   Presented July 24 at the quarterly meeting of OHFA’s board of trustees, the Apex Awards recognize the commitment of those creating affordable housing.
   As Oklahoma’s largest provider of affordable housing, OHFA offers nine housing programs ranging from a homeless program and rental assistance to housing development and home ownership

Basden gets scholarship
   Jacob Basden, 18, Stigler, has received the $1,000 Ted Allen/David Walker scholarship from the Oklahoma Weatherization and Housing Advisory Council.
   Basden’s mother, Beverly, works in the child care food program at KI BOIS. He is enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where he plans to study mass communications with an emphasis on advertising.
   Basden graduated from Stigler High School this year with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. He also served on the yearbook staff.