Tulsa Looks To Expand Response Teams For Non-Violent Emergencies

We're getting a look at new proposals the Tulsa City Council would like to see prioritized in the upcoming budget.

City of Tulsa Councilor Laura Bellis said she wants to see an expansion of the fire department's alternative response teams.

The program allows Tulsa Fire paramedics to bring along licensed social workers when responding to certain non-violent emergency situations, like mental health crises.

Bellis said the program has proven to be effective in Downtown Tulsa, and she would like to see it expanded citywide with more hours of operation.

Another proposal focuses on better leveraging state and federal dollars.

Bellis said a strategic grant acquisition is needed to make sure the city isn't missing out on big funding opportunities.

"There's no one looking, who's sole purpose it is or job it is to go 'hey, what grants are out there from the federal government or at the state level that we could be tapping into for work that maybe doesn't exist yet.' And so we, right now, are missing out on opportunities to access a lot of different types of federal dollars or also just new innovative work that our city could be doing. Because it's no one's job is specifically to go look for it," Bellis said.

While these proposals would require adding money to the budget, Bellis said in the long run, both proposals are upstream solutions that save money later on.