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Hepatitis C in Oklahoma prisons is an expensive time bomb

Oklahoma must invest in a comprehensive treatment plan for the growing hepatitis C crisis in our prisons before the cost of treatment and the human toll of this crisis become unmanageable.   [More...]

The Weekly Wonk: Poverty week; no good reason not to expand Medicaid; & more

This week, we focused on poverty in Oklahoma and emphasized policy solutions to help our families get ahead. [More...]

Oklahoma faces serious challenges. Together, we can rise to meet them

Throughout the past week, we’ve highlighted multiple facets of poverty in Oklahoma. We hope we’ve demonstrated that while poverty is a complex issue, Oklahoma has the power to provide real solutions.  [More...]

Census data confirms we must do more to help Oklahoma children and families

New data from the Census Bureau shows that poverty in Oklahoma is still well above the national average. In 2018, nearly 1 in 6 Oklahomans (15.6 percent) lived below the poverty line, earning less than $25,100 for a family of… Read more [More...]

There are no good reasons not to expand Medicaid

It’s been over seven years since states first began expanding Medicaid to cover low-income working-age adults. To date, 37 states (including the District of Columbia) have opted to expand coverage, and not a single state having done so has since… Read more [More...]

Black and Latino children in Oklahoma are still more likely to live in concentrated poverty

A new KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot shows that many children in Oklahoma live in high-poverty communities that often lack these vital necessities. In Oklahoma, Black and Latino children are more than four times as likely to live in areas of concentrated poverty (census tracts where 30 percent or more of the population lives in poverty). [More...]

Greenwood story needs to be told (Capitol Update)

For me it's taken living in Tulsa, hearing the tragic story many times and meeting some of the survivors to begin to understand the trauma and legacy of those events. The opportunity to absorb that history will be lost for future Oklahomans and visitors unless the Greenwood History Center is completed. [More...]

It’s Poverty Week at OK Policy – here’s what to expect

We work on a lot of issues here at OK Policy: criminal justice, education, economic opportunity, and more. But one of the most important issues that we work on is poverty, and it’s a very challenging issue because poverty is both a cause of other issues and an outcome that results from those other issues. Understanding poverty in our state is a crucial part of tackling so many of Oklahoma’s challenges, and this week we will be sharing data that will further our understanding of this core problem and make us better problem solvers. [More...]

The Weekly Wonk: Reinvesting in justice-involved youth; protect mothers and babies by expanding Medicaid; & more

This week, we took another dive into the newest report by Open Justice Oklahoma (OJO) which details Oklahoma’s massive, decades-long declines in juvenile crime and arrests. [More...]

Justice reinvestment offers a model to support vulnerable Oklahoma youth

Oklahoma should take advantage of declining youth incarceration to reinvest in services  — such as therapy, substance use treatment, education, and family supports — for justice-involved youth. [More...]

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