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Published 02/13/2020 | Reading Time 1 min 41 sec
TULSA, Okla. — 2020 marks the ten-year anniversary for Take Control Initiative (TCI), the nation’s longest running contraceptive access nonprofit program. In celebration of this milestone anniversary, Take Control Initiative will be hosting an event to honor the work of community partners, advocates, and staff. Three community members will be honored with a Gold Uterus award for their consistent support of access to healthcare and TCI’s efforts.
This celebration represents 10 years of achievement and service supporting birth control and healthcare access for over 37,000 women annually through grants and direct support to local health centers. TCI reaches more than 150,000 women in Tulsa each year with educational information on women’s health and self-advocacy.
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Data convey a range of positive outcomes in Tulsa County in part as a result of TCI’s efforts: Tulsa’s teen birth rate has decreased 57.7% from TCI’s baseline year, 2009, through 2018 and abortions decreased 51.2% from 2009 through 2017.
Laura Bellis, Executive Director of TCI, attributes these outcomes to intentional strategies, “We focus on ensuring people have information they need to participate in healthcare and feel comfortable self-advocating, while supporting our health centers in providing high quality same-day clinical services. These are services people need and deserve.”
TCI has focused on collaboration and innovation to drive change, recently providing free Lyft rides to family planning appointments and launching a Peer Health Educator program in postsecondary settings. “Considering that Oklahoma currently ranks 2nd highest in the nation for uninsured women, it’s phenomenal to see the level of access Take Control works so hard to provide, which has grown significantly since the program started in 2010,” said Kimberly Butler, who founded TCI and currently serves as a senior program officer at the George Kaiser Family Foundation.
At the 10 Year Celebration TCI will recognize Omare Jimmerson for her work with Strong Tomorrows, Priscilla Haynes for her work with the Tulsa City-County Health Department and Grant Cox for his work with The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists with TCI’s inaugural Gold Uterus Awards. “TCI is a model for what it looks like to support women’s healthcare as a system-wide approach,” said award recipient, Omare Jimmerson, “ they empower women to take control of their reproductive story, while continuously being a partner to other organizations fighting for health equity.”
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The Ten Year Celebration will be Thursday February 27th from 6:00 – 9:00pm; email info@takecontrolok.org for details and to register. For more information about the organization, visit the Take Control Initiative website at takecontrolok.org. To donate to the organization, visit takecontrolok.org/donate.
About Take Control Initiative
Take Control initiative (TCI) began in 2010 to improve access to contraception by providing education and outreach for all methods and free clinical services for IUDs and the arm implant. TCI has expanded clinical services to include all contraception, ensuring women and families have sustained, equitable access to the method that is best for them. The choice of when and if to have children is associated with securing better women’s health and pregnancy outcomes. TCI drives this change by breaking down social, economic, and clinical barriers to access with a goal of promoting health equity.