Work being done in Tulsa to get more children enrolled in Pre-K was recognized by a former president.

The Obama Foundation just named Tulsa as a "Model Community" in its program that works to address challenges faced by boys and young men of color.

That program is called "My Brother's Keeper," and ImpactTulsa has been involved since 2021. Now, Tulsa will serve as an example to other communities across the country.

Tulsa leaders, including Mayor GT Bynum and Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist, are back from a visit to Chicago last week with former President Barack Obama.

In an exclusive interview that aired Tuesday morning on CBS, he talked about his foundation's program, "My Brother's Keeper."

"Two hundred cities with varying degrees of success are making the effort to identify the barriers and knock those barriers away for so many of our young boys and young men of color, so that they can succeed,” he said. “The vast majority of these young people will succeed, and that will be good for all of us."

Four of those cities were named model communities for their work to improve education, and reduce crime: Newark, New Jersey; Yonkers, New York; Omaha, Nebraska; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The nonprofit ImpactTulsa is leading the efforts here. Ashley Philippsen is the executive director.

“We'll get to collaborate with the other communities. And what's most exciting, here, is we'll get to partner with people doing work in these spaces and bring those resources to bear for greater impact and collaboration,” Philippsen said.

The City of Tulsa said in a news release that between 2013 and 2019, the number of students of color enrolled in Pre-K in Tulsa increased by 33 percent.

Now, Philippsen is excited to share how ImpactTulsa and its partners are working to continue that trend.

"We saw in west Tulsa, we saw in north Tulsa and in east Tulsa opportunities to really do a laser light focus,” she said.

Philippsen was left with this message from the former president: "He just told us, in this work of supporting our students, supporting our youth, we have to fight cynicism. It's easy to fall into cynicism. I'm really holding onto that and really encouraged by that. And the fact that they're very proud of Tulsa. And we have a lot to teach other communities about this work,” Philippsen said.

One benefit of being named a model community, is $800,000 in grant money ImpactTulsa can use over the next two years to expand its work.

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