Public Health Epidemics in Oklahoma

This fact sheet and presentation were given to a town hall meeting in Oklahoma City on February 16th.  The meeting featured several public health experts who spoke about urgent public health epidemics in Oklahoma, including our director David Blatt and,… Read more [More...]

2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard

OK Policy is pleased to partner with CFED to release the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, a comprehensive look at wealth, poverty, and the financial security of families. Read more... [More...]

Benchmarking Asset Development in Fighting Poverty

A presentation by Dr. David Blatt, Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute and Steven Shepelwich, Senior Community Development Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Assets mean economic security.  Yet impoverished families frequently lack the means to build assets. … Read more [More...]

The Tax Shift: Income tax proposal would hike taxes for most Oklahomans

A new fact sheet released today by the Oklahoma Policy Institute shows that the legislature’s tax reform task force proposal would raise taxes for 55 percent of Oklahomans. Low-income seniors and families with children would be especially harmed by the… Read more [More...]

Medicaid 101: The SoonerCare Safety Net

Medicaid, known as SoonerCare in Oklahoma, is the primary health care safety net program in the state, without which thousands of families would forgo basic health services for their children, lack necessary medical care for their disables loved ones, and… Read more [More...]

Federal Health Policy Overview & Update

Click here for a copy of the presentation given at a public lecture at the state Capitol on various federal policy initiatives assocated with the new health care law, including state insurance exchange.… Read more [More...]

An Incomplete Recovery: The State Budget Outlook, 2012-2015

OK Policy’s issue brief is based on revenue forecasts for FY ’12 – FY ’15. Our main findings include: Oklahoma will face prolonged constraints on the state budget even as the economy and state . recover; Revenues will remain below… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s Black-White Unemployment Gap

This 1-page fact sheet summarizes racial disparities in unemployment in Oklahoma.  Black workers in the state were unemployed at more than twice the rate (13.1 percent) of white workers (5.9 percent) in 2010.  These disparities are persistent and deeply entrenched… Read more [More...]

The Case for the Income Tax

An OK Policy issue brief explains why proposals from some state leaders to repeal or reduce the state’s income tax are ill-advised. Its main findings: The income tax is the single largest state revenue source, accounting for nearly one of… Read more [More...]

Affordable Credit in Oklahoma: Asset-building and Financial Security

This paper, recently released by Oklahoma Assets, explores the critical role of credit in helping Oklahomans maintain financial security and build assets for a prosperous future.  Access the full issue-brief: “Affordable Credit in Oklahoma: Asset-building and Financial Security” Or read… Read more [More...]