'Better Way' Program Marks One Year In Tulsa

The City of Tulsa marked a year Friday since starting the "Better Way" program. More than 800 people have worked a day job through the program.<br/><br/>

Friday, March 8th 2019, 1:36 pm

By: Emory Bryan

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The City of Tulsa marked a year Friday since starting the "Better Way" program. More than 800 people have worked a day job through the program.

The program that started in Albuquerque a long time ago, started in Tulsa in 2018 and since then it's connected a lot of people with long term work.

The Better Way Program connects panhandlers with daily work, cleaning up parks all over Tulsa. The participants are paid cash, $65 dollars a day. The work is one day only, but participants are connected with employers looking for permanent employees.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said it’s proof the program can be recreated elsewhere.

"We've now shown that cities all over America can take this program, plug it in their cities and make a positive change for the people who live there. And that will happen because of the work that people did here in Tulsa over the last year to prove that," said Bynum.

Since this program started a year ago in Tulsa, 66 people have gone to permanent long term jobs and they're working today because of it.

Emory Bryan

Emory Bryan is a general assignment reporter for News On 6. He began his news career covering the school board for his hometown radio station and worked on the newspaper staff in college before making the switch to television. Emory Bryan joined the News On 6 team in 1994.

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