Oklahoma Bar Journal
Bar Foundation News | Back on the Road: OBF Site Visits Reconnect With Grantees Across Oklahoma
By Renee DeMoss
For years, the Oklahoma Bar Foundation’s grantee site visits were one of the most valuable parts of our operations. Sadly, COVID-19 paused that practice. In 2025, we started getting back out on the road, and we’ve kept that momentum going in 2026. There is tremendous value in sitting across the table from the amazing people executing critical efforts in their community and hearing about, in their own words, what’s going well and what other opportunities we have to assist.
WHY WE SHOW UP
We travel to a grantee’s location to sit down with staff and leadership to listen and learn. The value is understanding the day-to-day realities behind the grant application, ensuring funds are being spent as granted, seeing the work in the space where it happens, and building lasting relationships. Site visits are how OBF stays connected to the communities we serve, and it directly supports our strategic plan, particularly our grant engagement goals.
THE GOAL: SERVE ALL 77 COUNTIES AND VISIT EIGHT REGIONS
Oklahoma is a big, varied state, and OBF is committed to reaching every corner of it. Our goal is to visit grantees in all eight regions of Oklahoma, so that our understanding of the state’s legal and community needs isn’t limited to where we happen to already have relationships. In 2026, that has taken us to organizations serving communities from Tulsa to Lawton to rural Oklahoma, each with a distinct story to tell.
ON THE ROAD IN 2026
Project Commutation in Tulsa provides free legal representation to individuals serving excessive sentences. We met with Program Director Abby Gore and a team of law student interns funded by the OBF who are working on some of the most specialized post-conviction work in the state. Watching TU College of Law students get hands-on training in commutation and parole advocacy work they can’t get in a classroom was a reminder of how grant dollars can build the next generation of public interest attorneys while serving clients right now. Their caseload has grown with the addition of Oklahoma Survivors Act representation.
At The Spring, which provides services to survivors of sexual abuse and human trafficking, we toured their newest property, a second location adding 12 cabins and a lodge for long-term transitional housing alongside their emergency shelter. One thing that stood out was how seriously they take survivor safety. This is extremely important to those who have survived abuse and need location protection from their abusers.
Our visit to Abbott House told a story about resilience. The organization provides forensic interviews so that child abuse victims only have to tell their stories during legal investigations one time. Their new executive director, a former police detective, has brought transparency and a renewed sense of teamwork to the staff. Abbott House opened a satellite office in Garvin County and continues to serve clients across a wide region. Their biggest need going forward is funding to help fill a serious shortage of forensic interviewers in Oklahoma.
THE ROAD TRIP CONTINUES
Every one of these organizations is solving a problem that matters to Oklahoma’s legal community and to the people it serves. Grantee site visits allow OBF to see that work up close. As we continue working toward serving all 77 counties, I’m reminded that this foundation’s strength has always come from the relationships we build, one community at a time. We are looking forward to getting back on the road again soon.
Ms. DeMoss is the executive director of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation.
Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal – OBJ 97 No. 8 (October 2026)
Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.