With a strong concentration of education, health and social service programs already operating in the area, and as the site of the first Educare in Tulsa, the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood was selected as the pilot site for a place-based neighborhood revitalization initiative. GKFF is driving this effort with a goal of creating a pipeline from birth to college to career.

Through GKFF’s partnership with Community Action Project of Tulsa County as the planning agency, Kendall-Whittier is participating in the Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhood Program, based on the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone. Currently, Kendall-Whittier is a selected member of the Promise Neighborhood Institute’s Intensive Learning Partnership and will continue to pursue the Promise Neighborhood goals of establishing the birth to college to career pipeline.

Understanding that a safe, quality home environment is also a significant factor in breaking the cycle of poverty for children and their families, GKFF has undertaken a physical redevelopment plan to complement its human capital work. Partnering with McCormack Baron Salazar, a nationally respected developer that specializes in revitalizing economically distressed urban areas into vibrant mixed-income communities, the foundation is helping fund construction of a 128-unit mixed-income housing development that will begin in the Kendall-Whittier neighborhood in 2012.

GKFF is hopeful that these combined efforts will create a successful revitalization model that can then be adapted and applied to other struggling neighborhoods in Tulsa.