Alva Review-Courier -

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Tulsa's A Better Way program began operating March 9, but before it did, city officials wanted to make one thing absolutely clear: the day-labor initiative isn't just for panhandlers.

It's for you, too.

"The term 'A Better Way,' it's also a message to the whole of the community," said Mike Brose, executive director of Mental Health Association Oklahoma. "The reason why people panhandle is because people hand the money out their car windows. It encourages that behavior.

"So, the message is also to the broader community — there is a better way."

Mental Health Association Oklahoma was the only nonprofit to respond to the city's request for proposals to operate A Better Way.

Mayor G.T. Bynum said the organization is a great fit to run the program.

"They do have expertise in addressing a broad range of needs, whether that is job placement, connecting people with different social services that our available and that is really the value of the program," Bynum said.

Based on a similar program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, A Better Way will give panhandlers an opportunity to work for cash, with the overarching goal of addressing the issues that are keeping them on the streets and out of the workforce.

The voluntary program will operate Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from approximately 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Panhandlers are paid $65 a day in cash and have access to a case worker and an employment specialist during lunch, the Tulsa World reported.

Up to seven panhandlers a day are expected to participate in the program.

"We believe that employment is a form of recovery," Brose said. "There is a lot of evidence that tells us that. We have hired people in our own organization who live in recovery for many, many years."

Mental Health Association Oklahoma uses a marked city van to pick up panhandlers at various locations around town on Mondays and Fridays. Panhandlers hoping to be part of the program on Wednesdays will be asked to show up at the association's drop-off center, Denver House. At the end of the day, participants will be dropped off at the Denver House, where they can choose to be transported to a shelter.

The city has budgeted $100,000 for the program this fiscal year. Tulsa Area United Way is providing the funding for the employment specialist.

Alex Aguilar, director of MHAO's Employment First program and the person overseeing A Better Way, said participants will be working to clean, beautify and maintain city properties, beginning with parks.

"The city will have a list of designated sites that we will start working at," she said. "It's a little complicated. The jobs will be determined the day of."

Mike Battenfield, maintenance and operations manager for Tulsa Parks, said he would welcome the help. There are times, especially Mondays, when his site crews spend all their time picking up trash and performing other cleanup duties.

"What that (A Better Way) would do, that will allow our staff to go back to more skilled-labor jobs," Battenfield said.

The city has no formal mechanism for tracking the number of panhandlers in Tulsa. The number is fluid, but an outreach program conducted over several months last year by John 3:16 Mission identified 208.

Bynum, Brose and Aguilar acknowledge that giving panhandlers $65 for a day's work won't get rid of every one of them, but they believe the conversation it sparks might help the city reduce the number significantly.

"A big part of the program is to start a conversation about what is panhandling? What is homelessness? What does it look like, and how can we help?," Aguilar said. "And that is kind of the whole premise of it."

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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com