Live United

The YWCA Tulsa team sat down to discuss its Refugee Youth Mentorship program. Its program coordinator and dedicated volunteers shared insights into the importance of mentorship and the incredible impact it's making on our refugee youth community in the Tulsa area.

Hannibal B. Johnson, a longtime Tulsa Area United Way volunteer, joins us to talk about his new book, " 10 Ways We Can Advance Social Justice Without Destroying Each Other." Buy it now on Amazon.

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Hannibal B. Johnson, a Harvard Law School graduate, is an author, attorney, and consultant specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, human relations, leadership, and non-profit leadership and management. He has taught at The University of Tulsa College of Law, Oklahoma State University, and The University of Oklahoma. Johnson serves on the federal 400 Years of African American History Commission. He chaired the Education Committee for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission and served as local curator of its world-class history center, Greenwood Rising. His books, including Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples With Its Historical Racial Trauma, chronicle the African American experience in Oklahoma and its indelible impact on American history. Johnson’s play, Big Mama Speaks—A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor’s Story, was selected for the 2011 National Black Theatre Festival and has been staged in Caux, Switzerland. He has received numerous honors and awards for his work and community service, including a lifetime achievement award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book and induction into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame, the Tulsa Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

You're listening to the Live United podcast presented by the Tulsa Area United Way. We've got a very special episode for you today. We've partnered with the All Things Mental Health podcast to simulcast this joint episode featuring Dr. AdamAndreassen.

In December 2023, Dr. Andreassen succeeded Gail Lapidus as CEO of Family & Children's Services, a proud Tulsa Area United Way nonprofit partner. On behalf of everyone at Tulsa Area United Way, we want to thank Gail for dedicating five decades of her life and hard work to FCS, with 38 years of those years in the role of CEO.

As CEO, Gail supported Tulsa Area United Way in every way possible. And now, in her retirement, she's serving on Tulsa Area United Way's Centennial Committee. Tulsa Area United Way turns 100 on April 1, so please join us for IGNITE Week, the first week of April. We’ll be making a big splash so, mark your calendars and stay tuned for exciting announcements. You can stay up to date by visiting centennial.tauw.org.

And for those of you who haven’t listened to the All Things Mental Health podcast, it’s co-hosted by Mike Brose and Joi-Michelle Rhodes.

Mike spent27 years of his life as CEO of Mental Health Association Oklahoma. Since then, Mike keeps up his warp speed pace of mental health advocacy in a variety of ways, including co-hosting All Things Mental Health each month.

Check out the latest episode of the Live United podcast featuring Ana Montilla. In this episode, Ana, our new Marketing and Community Relations Associate, shares about her passion for unity, her role in the Hispanic community, and how her experiences shape her work. Tune in to hear Ana's story of resilience and hope, and how she embodies the spirit of living united.

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Echa un vistazo al último episodio del podcast de Live United con Ana Montilla. En este episodio, Ana, nuestra nueva Asociada de Mercadotecnia y Relaciones Comunitarias, comparte sobre su pasión por la unidad, su papel en la comunidad hispana y cómo sus experiencias dan forma a su trabajo. Sintonice para escuchar la historia de Ana sobre la resiliencia y la esperanza, y cómo encarna el espíritu de vivir unida.

Terry Simonson spent about 40 years in various public administrative positions and recently retired from the role of director of governmental relations for Tulsa County. He now works for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. He talks about his life of service, and gives tips to nonprofits eager to apply for opioid settlement money to help change and save lives.

Our co-hosts, Jocelyn Clayton and Matthew Gleason, interview Rachel Ford, of QuikTrip, and Maranda Figueroa, of a New Leaf, about how 180 QuikTrip volunteers helped transform the Village at a New Leaf during two Days of Caring.

TheVillageisan expansion ofANewLeaf’s services to better serve individuals with developmental disabilitiesandautism living in Green Country. TheVillageis safeandaffordable housing designed to createapathway of independenceand consistency of care to maximize the personal choice of the individual.

Eriyon Tecson and Caroline Olsen, both of Youth Services of Tulsa, reflect on Day of Caring 2023 during a Sept. 22, 2023 interview with Live United co-hosts Jocelyn Clayton and Matthew Gleason.

We welcome Jesse Guardiola to the Live United podcast. He is thefirst Tulsa Area United Way (TAUW) Vice President of Community Relations and Impact. A key component of Jesse's role is to ensure that community needs and issues are understood while simultaneously fostering collaborative relationships with corporations, foundations, schools, nonprofit organizations, law enforcement, and various government agencies.

As a member of several TAUW partner nonprofit Boards of Directors, Jesse has helped organizations like CAP Tulsa, Boy Scouts, and Street School with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

For the past 26 years, Jesse’s work as a business and workforce development strategist has benefitted the Hispanic and minority communities. Through his study of behavioral economics with an emphasis on immigrants and first-generations, he significantly increased minority applicants and hires in Tulsa's public safety departments by 91%.

During his long career, Jesse established and served as the Tulsa Police Department's (first ever) Hispanic Outreach and Relations Director from 2009 to 2020. Utilizing empirical data, he successfully orchestrated a Hispanic Outreach Program that fostered mutually beneficial relationships with the Hispanic community. In 2013, he was awarded "Officer of the Year" for his community work and in 2019, Jesse's research and application design was selected from 700 other agencies nationwide. He was honored in Washington DC with a "Distinguished Medal" for innovative community policing strategies from the Attorney General's Office and Department of Justice.

On this episode of the Live United podcast presented by Tulsa Area United Way, we explore how our communities rallied together to help those most in need in the aftermath of the wind storm crisis that wiped out power across the area for several days.

Tahira Sheriff has traveled a long way from Sri Lanka to Tulsa on a Professional Fellowship Program organized by the Gaylord College in the University of Oklahoma and the US state Department. She was assigned to work closely with the Tulsa Area United Way to gain and share knowledge to progress her work done in Sri Lanka through her non profit foundation- Alengko Foundation. 

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