Tulsa has a new resource for kids experiencing homelessness.
Launched in December, the Oklahoma Homeless Youth Handbook is a free tool that helps anyone navigating life without a permanent place to live. It’s the result of a partnership between Oklahoma Appleseed and other law firms.
“This work directly aligns with our work to support youth and end homelessness in Tulsa,” Mayor Monroe Nichols said on Facebook. “As we have come to learn, homelessness is not a one-agency issue. It takes all of us working together to coordinate care and reduce barriers.”
According to the January Point in Time count, 10% of Tulsa’s homeless population is 17 years old or younger. Another 8% are between the ages of 18-24. The count found 1,449 people in the city were experiencing homelessness.
Jaclyn Pampel is a pro bono partner with Baker McKenzie, a global law firm that helped put together the handbook.
“It might not seem obvious that a young person who’s experiencing homelessness would have legal questions, but the undercurrent of a lot of the issues that they’re facing are, in fact, legal questions and needs that they have,” Pampel said.
Getting a legal ID is one of the most common problems they see from kids and teens experiencing homelessness, she said.
Without one, she says, “you can’t usually get a job legally, and so you end up taking work under the table, which leads to a whole of other problems that young people face. So getting access to forms of legal ID is a legal question.”
Other topics covered in the guide include access to SNAP benefits, where they can legally sleep and whether they can move schools.
However, the handbook stops short of offering legal advice since Pampel says that tends to be a case-by-case basis.
“The objective is to give a pathway to other organizations where they could get help and support,” she said. “In our chapters on housing and contracts, we’ve got legal aid organizations in the state that are there and that exist so the young people can go for more help and support.”
The website also features a safe exit button meant to protect kids’ privacy if they are accessing it in a public space. That function was the direct result of feedback from a focus group.
Pampel said they hope to have physical copies of the handbook printed by the first quarter of 2026. She said they’re also working with schools and other organizations to distribute posters letting people know this resource exists.
Oklahoma is the 13th state to have a handbook — Washington, D.C. has one, too. Pampel said they’d love to have one in all 50 states, but that will take some time.
