James Goodwin

Leaving No One Behind

James Goodwin, longtime Tulsa attorney, drawing on his experience as past chair of Tulsa’s City-County Health Department, called on Tulsans to envision their city as a “healthy community” and to “develop a more comprehensive community plan for health care.”

Congratulating Mayor LaFortune on “this timely initiative in city building,” Goodwin said, “I see this summit as his first phase in the reforming of our great city.”

A native of Tulsa, Goodwin envisions Tulsa “as an emotionally satisfying and caring city, providing jobs, housing, health benefits and education, giving to its citizens a sense of protection, a sense of belonging, a sense of pride, a sense of adventure, and a sense of urgency in solving the problems of poverty.”

Tulsa is also a city, he said, “whose citizens see the importance of self-help and sweat equity in housing the poorer segments of our population; the development of financial instruments such as public/private partnering to encourage entrepreneurship, not just with big business.”

In his vision, Goodwin called on Tulsans to dedicate themselves “to a new civil rights movement: eliminating the spread of illiteracy, illegitimacy, inner-city school poor performance, violence, drug addiction, and the sale on the market of products unhealthy for our citizens.

“Tulsa must strive to build a society where no one is left behind, where everyone has an equal opportunity to have a quality education, gainful employment, access to affordable housing and health care, and the best public health protection possible.”

Goodwin pointed out that Tulsa is the largest city in the United States without a city-county sponsored plan to offer health services to all its citizens.

“Both community health and education are vital to economic development as well as the quality of life,” he said, adding that no matter the neighborhood, all citizens, including children, the elderly, and those who do not drive, must have “access to the necessities of life.”

“We are blessed to be Americans — blessed to use our freedoms to make possible the good life not only for ourselves, but for everyone,” he said. “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that every man must write with his own hand the charter of his emancipation proclamation.” Goodwin added that “our emancipation in the days, years, and decades to come is to live not only the good life, but to live a life that is good.”

“Our challenge,” he concluded, “is to relate to one another, based not on our circumstances in life, but on our value as individuals, where character counts more than characteristics. I see that as our Tulsa of tomorrow.”

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Contents

Introduction

The Mayor’s Objectives

Small Group Discussions & Questions

Glen Heimstra
The Shape of Things to Come

William Hudnut III
A Vision for Urban America

Q&A: Hudnut and Heimstra

Clayton Vaughn
You Said We Couldn’t Do It, But...

Rodger Randle
The Demographics of Today’s Tulsa

The Branding of Tulsa

Robert LaFortune
Investing in the Future Generations of our City

Mollie Williford
Volunteerism and the Arts

James Goodwin «
Leaving No One Behind

Kathy LaFortune
Continuing the Vision

Credits