Norman Ends A Better Way Job Program, Cutting Off Aid for 200 Homeless Residents

A Better Way Norman, a supportive employment program that connected unhoused residents to jobs, housing, and treatment, is shutting down at the end of August after the city pulled its funding. The closure ends a partnership between the city and a nonprofit that had served more than 200 participants since launching in the summer of 2025.

The program, run jointly by the City of Norman and Mental Health Association Oklahoma, put people to work cleaning up public spaces in exchange for wages and meals, while case managers connected them to housing, mental health care, and substance abuse services. As reported by KGOU, the city funded the initiative through opioid settlement dollars but was denied additional funding this year, forcing the shutdown. Norman had also applied for a state Opioid Abatement Grant in spring 2026 to replace the money, but that application was rejected as well, according to the City of Norman.

City staff now plan to consult with the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office before submitting future grant applications, per the same city announcement. That office can only allocate opioid settlement funds to cities, counties, or school districts — meaning Mental Health Association Oklahoma could not apply for the money directly, KGOU's report notes.

Council Redirected Settlement Funds to City Staff

The funding fight traces back to a decision the Norman City Council made in December 2025, when members voted to redirect opioid settlement money away from A Better Way and toward two new internal city positions focused on homelessness outreach. The city used its settlement payout to hire a Community Services Manager and a Community Outreach Social Worker in June, both housed within the City Manager's Office and funded through the Distributors Oklahoma Settlement Agreement, the city said in its own announcement.

The council originally approved the program's launch in April 2025 through Contract K-2425-109, budgeting $383,633 that combined $333,633 in opioid settlement funds with $50,000 from the city's Sanitation Fund to cover daily beautification cleanup costs, according to a city council meeting document. The program ran three days a week, using a city-owned van to transport up to eight participants daily to clean city property, with priority given to unhoused individuals recovering from substance use disorders.

More Than 200 People Served Since Launch

Since launching in July 2025, A Better Way Norman helped find gainful employment for 25 people and secured housing for 17 others, while connecting more than 50 people to mental health or substance abuse services as of June. The program's early numbers showed steady engagement: during its first full quarter from June to September 2025, it recorded 89 van riders, 320 referrals, and 57 enrolled participants, though only three people had landed permanent jobs by that point, according to metrics the city presented to its Oversight Committee.

Employment coordinators built hiring pipelines with local employers including Goodwill and Walmart to help move participants from temporary day labor into permanent jobs, offering interview coaching and basic work attire along the way, KGOU reported when the program launched. The two-week supportive employment structure was modeled on a program Mental Health Association Oklahoma first launched in Tulsa in March 2018, which itself borrowed from a low-barrier employment initiative created in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as an alternative to street panhandling.

Nonprofit Says It Could Return With New Funding

Carrie Blumert, CEO of Mental Health Association Oklahoma, said the program could restart if additional funding is found or if Norman chooses to allocate general-fund money to keep it running, according to KGOU's report. The nonprofit wants to keep A Better Way Norman going, but without a dedicated funding source, the outreach van will stop running at the end of the month.

Norman has spread its broader opioid settlement dollars across several efforts beyond the jobs program, including purchasing extra Narcan supplies for police and supporting drug treatment at the Cleveland County Detention Center, the city said. Those allocations remain bound by the terms of the state distributor agreements that govern how settlement money can be spent.

State Encampment Clearings Add Pressure

The program's closure comes as Oklahoma's Operation SAFE initiative, launched in September 2025, has state troopers using heavy equipment to clear homeless encampments on state-owned land in Norman and Tulsa, as Hoodline previously reported. Those clearings have drawn criticism for displacing residents without immediate housing alternatives, adding strain to local support networks just as one of Norman's outreach programs winds down.