What are the benefits of becoming a UTT member?

 

1. Civic Training & Leader Development

UTT's umbrella organization, ACTION, is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which is the nation's oldest grassroots organizing network.

As a member institution of ACTION, UTT members are invited to participate in civic leadership training experiences for no or minimal cost.

Our trainings equip tenants with the organizing tools, principles, and mindsets necessary to build power to make change from the ground up.

For those who demonstrate extended commitment and talent for the practice of community organizing, ACTION extends a limited number of invitations for tenants to participate in regional 5-day IAF trainings, which can increase their effectiveness and further prepare them for a career in community organizing if they are interested.

2. Support from a dedicated Community Organizer

ACTION's trained and experienced organizers offer 1:1 personal development and organizing support to UTT and our other member institutions. We're kind of like lobbyists, except we work on behalf of the regular people and families who make up our organization.

That support helps our tenants build partnerships, conduct research, identify winnable issues to take on, and develop effective strategies to effect policy and systems change.

3. Investment in advancing the interests of tenants across Tulsa and Oklahoma

Corporate landlords and property owners pour hundreds of thousandsif not millionsof dollars into advancing their own political interests.

That's a big part of why there is such a large power imbalance between landlords and tenants in Oklahoma.

Becoming a dues-paying member or financial supporter of UTT helps tilt the scales toward equity by funding efforts to ensure that tenants have a seat at the negotiating table when it comes to policies that affect us.

4. Opportunities to affect policy at the local and state level

We teach tenants who to think and act like "power people," and we create opportunities to put those skills into action.

Our trips to the state capitol during legislative sessions have been described as "like becoming a character in an Oklahoma version of Game of Thrones."

As UTT members, our tenants are guided through how to think about and experience the political process in a way that brings everything you ever learned in civics classes to life in a thrilling way.

5. Connection to a local community that cares about the needs of Tulsa's tenants

As a member institution of ACTION, UTT is connected to a wide network of diverse people and institutions that care about what tenants are going through. The include clergy, homeowners, political allies, and even ethically-minded landlords.

Building the power to change policy requires collective effort and relationships across lines of difference.

Not only that, but the relationships formed in the process are enriching help rebuild a connection to community and social capital that many tenants lack.