GKFF provides nearly $3 million grant to north Tulsa-based holistic defense firm

But though Oklahoma has in recent years made strides toward shrinking its incarcerated population, the state remains a leader in the number of women and Black people sent to prison.

In light of that continued disparity, the George Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday announced a grant of $2.8 million for Still She Rises to “help break the cycle of poverty and instability that so often correlates with the incarceration of mothers.”

Still She Rises Executive Director Aisha McWeay said statistics the organization maintains show there were more than 500 arrests of women in Tulsa County in May and June, of which roughly 20% were for violent felony complaints, despite safety concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“When you drill down on talking about those numbers in May and June, the collateral consequences of that could mean someone loses their job or someone loses their housing because they went to jail,” McWeay said. Asked about the significance of GKFF’s grant, she said: “The idea that they (GKFF) see not only the issues but also our clients and are willing to stand with them sends a strong message. It means that they see our clients as humans who deserve respect and dignity and they support that.”

In a statement accompanying the announcement, GKFF senior program officer Amy Santee said women in prison, nearly two-thirds of whom are mothers, face a significantly increased likelihood of losing care of or even access to their children. She said the trauma associated with that separation can contribute to the intergenerational cycle of incarceration and applauded Still She Rises for providing what she described as “seamless access” to services for mothers involved in criminal, civil and juvenile proceedings to help keep families together.

“Aisha McWeay is an incredible leader for the organization and in the community. She continues to build on SSRT’s unique model that provides client-centered, holistic representation and to drive systemic changes to Tulsa’s criminal justice system,” Santee said.

McWeay said the funds from GKFF will help Still She Rises add investigators, client advocates and other staff to its team as it continues efforts to expand. She said staff members adjusted to limitations created by the coronavirus by staffing the courthouse’s daily bond docket, which has in turn broadened their potential service base from mothers in specific north Tulsa ZIP codes to all women who appear on the docket on a given day.

But Still She Rises also spends significant time working with mothers who face eviction from their residences and McWeay said that process, along with the criminal legal system, is “incredibly punitive” to that group in particular. Tulsa County is among the top counties nationally for the rate of evictions, and those proceedings resumed in court last month after a hiatus that began in mid-March due to COVID-19.

“We knew eviction was a central component, but I don’t think any of us could guess the process of one — meaning the quickness and ease with which they happen here — I don’t think we had quite the insight of what that looked like until we were in it,” McWeay said. “And there’s a culture that being poor means you cannot parent. Our belief and one of the fundamental beliefs we have is that that’s not true.

“If we spent as much time and as much money and as much resources in rehabilitating them, we could address things that folks were so concerned about at the beginning.”

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