My name is Michaela Childs, Miss Capital City 2024.

I am an advocate for Domestic Violence Prevention through my Community Service Initiative "Shatter the Silence." My platform is based in helping bring light to breaking the cycle of abuse and trauma as well as encouraging survivors to find their own self defined success after experiencing abuse.

Oklahoma is currently the worst in the nation for Domestic Violence cases per capita. We see an immense amount of survivors everyday trying to pick up the pieces and find their autonomous life after abuse.

The summer of 2023, the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence was dissolved. This was due to misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to Whitney Bryen, former investigative reporter at Oklahoma Watch, this coalition "certified advocates who help victims escape their abusers, find housing, apply for jobs, file protective orders and report to police. It employed a lobbyist who assisted in writing laws to protect victims and warns legislators if a bill could be harmful to victims. It helped rural shelters find the nearest available bed when their facility is full and provided technical support to crisis centers whose budgets don’t afford it."

These kinds of resources are essential to shrinking the number of people affected by domestic violence in Oklahoma. Due to mismanagement and misspending under this previous leadership, the survivors of Oklahoma now have to suffer.

Bryen highlighted in one of her articles that "Oklahoma would be the only state in the country without a coalition, according to the national coalition’s website" in the event of its dissolve.

This is now our reality. There is no statewide network to help ensure that the survivors of Oklahoma are best taken care of. 

This petition is a call to reinstate a coalition and to build it from the ground up. A new leadership structure with a different system for finances that has more of an overseeing presence is possible. More checks and balances put in place to fight misspending but allow the coalition to have a presence is Oklahoma is something that should be fought for.

If you believe in bringing awareness to this, please sign this petition. 

For more information on what's referenced in this, refer to the links below:

• Nonprofit Dissolves After Federal Investigators Froze Funding
• Oklahoma Abuse Victim Support Jeopardized By Nonprofit’s Misspent $500k
• Oklahoma Nonprofit Used Federal Funds For Vacations Instead of Victim Services
• Audit of the Office on Violence Against Women Grants Awarded to the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• NCADV | State Coalitions (Dissolved Coalition is still listed under OK)
• NNEDV | Criteria to start a state coalition

Thank you,

Michaela Childs

IG: @misscapitalcityok | @childsmichaela