Omare Jimmerson

What her public appointment allows

Omare Jimmerson joined Tulsa’s Parks and Recreation Board in August 2026. The City lists her term from August 5, 2026, through May 1, 2030. The board advises the mayor and Council on management of the park system; its members also serve as Gilcrease Museum trustees. This is collective public governance, with advisory authority over parks and a linked museum trusteeship. It does not make each board member a department director or give an individual unilateral control over park operations. The City roster identifies the charter provisions governing the board.

Education and work with parenting students

Tulsa Honor Academy’s board biography identifies Jimmerson as a University of Oklahoma Master of Public Health graduate, a former Tulsa Public Schools social-services coordinator and cofounder and former program director of Strong Tomorrows. It supplies no graduation year. The program supported expectant and parenting students with guidance and connections to services. This background places education, health and access to support at the center of her documented career. These are institution-published biographical claims, with the school role also supported by contemporaneous reporting.

Career & public service

1. 2017

   School support

   Headed Strong Tomorrows during its expansion.

   Strong Tomorrows expansion after Margaret Hudson closure ↗
2. 2020

   Civic leadership

   Named president of Leadership Tulsa.

   Leadership Tulsa 2020 board slate ↗
3. 2021–2022

   Regional literacy board

   Listed as Reading Partners’ Tulsa regional chair.

   Reading Partners 2021–22 annual report ↗
4. November 2021–September 2022

   Parks administration

   Deputy-director service dates reported by Tulsa Flyer.

   Tulsa Parks leadership changes ↗
5. 2023

   Public-health fellowship

   Named an Aspen Healthy Communities Fellow.

   Aspen Global Innovators: Omare Jimmerson ↗
6. April 2025

   Birth-equity interview

   Discussed doula support and administrative barriers in independent reporting.

   Birth equity and community-based doula support ↗
7. August 2026

   Parks Board appointment

   City lists the new four-year board term.

   City of Tulsa: Parks Board roster and powers ↗

People, institutions and the relationships between them

Following the connections

Each step below represents a documented relationship. Dates and roles belong to the individual links; a path can span different periods.

Documented relationships

12 documented relationships · Historical and current roles remain distinct.

Advocacy, implementation and the limits of outcome claims

In the same interview, Jimmerson distinguished doulas’ nonmedical support from clinical care and discussed the administrative work involved in reimbursement. The initiative’s policy page says it contributed to securing expanded postpartum coverage and doula reimbursement. Those are organizational claims about participation in policymaking. They are not evidence that Jimmerson alone created the policies or that a particular family’s health outcome was caused by her work. The documented role combines service administration, workforce support and advocacy; evaluating effects requires evidence beyond a leader’s account or a promotional program summary.

From parks administration to board service

Tulsa Flyer reported that Council approved Jimmerson’s appointment on August 5, replacing Shane Fernandez after his term. The report dates her earlier service as parks deputy director to November 2021–September 2022. Her return is therefore in a different capacity: a member of the public board rather than a member of the department’s executive staff. That experience is relevant to understanding her familiarity with the system, but it does not expand the legal powers of the seat. The appointment also predates any basis for attributing later board outcomes to her individually.

A documented expansion of school-based support

In August 2017, The Frontier reported that Strong Tomorrows was expanding to Central and McLain high schools following the closure of the Margaret Hudson program. Jimmerson, identified as the district’s social-services coordinator and head of Strong Tomorrows, described full-time positions in the participating high schools and a father coordinator. The report places her work in a concrete institutional response to a loss of services. It documents the expansion plans and her administrative role; it does not establish that her program replaced every service or achieved every intended outcome.

The birth-equity organization and her role

Jimmerson is identified as executive director of the Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative in institutional biographies and recent reporting. The initiative’s website identifies Tulsa Birth Equity as its former name, so the two names should not be treated as separate organizations. It describes work in doula services, workforce training, hospital quality improvement and policy. In an April 2025 interview with The Black Wall Street Times, Jimmerson traced the doula work to her experience with Strong Tomorrows. That is her account of the program’s development. Her executive role concerns the initiative’s work; it does not give her authority over hospitals or public health agencies.

Two foundations with different relationships

Tulsa Community Foundation’s 2024 tax return lists Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative LLC as a disregarded entity and names Tulsa Community Foundation as its direct controlling entity. The same schedule lists Strong Tomorrows. This is a dated legal and tax-reporting relationship, not a claim that Jimmerson owns either organization. Separately, George Kaiser Family Foundation lists birth equity, Strong Tomorrows and Amplify among the programs it supports. Funding support and the tax return’s controlling-entity designation are different relationships. Neither record establishes personal control by a foundation’s founder over Jimmerson’s public-board decisions. No grant amount or personal compensation is inferred from these affiliations.

Education and nonprofit governance

Amplify Youth Health Collective lists Jimmerson as vice chair. Her statement on its board page emphasizes informed decisions and including young people’s voices in decision-making. Tulsa Honor Academy also lists her as a board member. These are separate governance responsibilities, not extensions of the Parks Board appointment. Reading Partners’ 2021–22 annual report identifies her as the Tulsa regional board chair, separately from its national directors. That dated report supports a historical regional role; it should not be read as proof of current national board membership.

Leadership networks and public-health work

Leadership Tulsa’s January 2020 board announcement named Jimmerson president and listed her affiliation as Tulsa Public Schools. Aspen Global Innovators identifies her as a 2023 Healthy Communities Fellow. These roles connect local civic leadership with a wider public-health fellowship network. They establish participation and recognition, rather than authority over fellow participants or evidence that their employers act together. The resulting institutional map spans schools, parks, birth support and nonprofit governance, with each connection retaining its own dates and responsibilities.

Check the record

Sources & corrections

Research checked 2026-10-23. Roles and financial figures retain their source dates. Sections appear only when supported material is available; an omitted section is not a finding that no such relationship exists.

1. City of Tulsa: authorities, boards and commissions ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Parks and Recreation Board and Gilcrease Museum Board of Trustees: purpose, ex officio membership, Savage seat04 and May22,2024–May1,2028 term.

2. City of Tulsa: Parks Board roster and powers ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Parks Board seat03: Omare Jimmerson, August 5, 2026–May 1, 2030; same members serve as Gilcrease trustees. Parks advisory purpose and charter reference. Gilcrease separate roster may lag replacement.

3. Tulsa Parks leadership changes ↗

   independent-reporting · Source date 2026-08-27 · Checked 2026-10-23

   Faith Harl: August5 Council approval, replacement of Shane Fernandez, previous deputy-director service November2021–September2022. Board complaint is not a finding against Jimmerson.

4. Tulsa Honor Academy: Omare Jimmerson ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Named board member biography: MPH from University of Oklahoma, former TPS social-services coordinator and Strong Tomorrows cofounder/program director. Graduation year not supplied.

5. Amplify board of directors ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Executive committee: Omare Jimmerson, vice chair; birth-equity executive role, attributed statement and explicitly associated portrait.

6. Strong Tomorrows expansion after Margaret Hudson closure ↗

   independent-reporting · Source date 2017-08-18 · Checked 2026-10-23

   Kassie McClung, August18,2017: Jimmerson social-services coordinator and program head; expansion to Central/McLain and full-time father coordinator.

7. Birth equity and community-based doula support ↗

   independent-reporting · Source date 2025-04-02 · Checked 2026-10-23

   Quinn Foster interview, April2,2025: executive role, Strong Tomorrows origins, nonmedical support and reimbursement paperwork. Personal account attributed; no causal outcome rates adopted.

8. Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Program branches: doula care/training, hospital quality improvement, policy and community support; footer identifies former Tulsa Birth Equity name.

9. OKBEI data and policy ↗

   primary · Checked 2026-10-23

   Organizational account of advocacy for Medicaid postpartum and doula coverage. Contribution claim attributed; not sole authorship of policy.

10. Tulsa Community Foundation 2024 Form990 ↗

    primary · Source date 2024 tax year · Checked 2026-10-23

    PDF page187, printed189, ScheduleR PartI continuation: Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative LLC, EIN86-3159264, and Strong Tomorrows listed as disregarded entities, direct controlling entity Tulsa Community Foundation. Original table visually inspected. Historical tax-year2024 snapshot; no amounts used.

11. GKFF maternal and child wellness ↗

    primary · Checked 2026-10-23

    Programs supported include Oklahoma Birth Equity Initiative, Strong Tomorrows and Amplify. Support relationship does not establish personal control or grant amount.

12. Leadership Tulsa 2020 board slate ↗

    primary · Source date 2020-01-07 · Checked 2026-10-23

    January7,2020: President Omare Jimmerson, Tulsa Public Schools. Historical office.

13. Reading Partners 2021–22 annual report ↗

    primary · Source date 2021–2022 · Checked 2026-10-23

    Printed page5: regional board chairs, Tulsa: Omare Jimmerson. Distinct from national board, whose names are separately listed.

14. Aspen Global Innovators: Omare Jimmerson ↗

    primary · Source date 2023 fellowship · Checked 2026-10-23

    Named 2023 Healthy Communities Fellow; executive role and attributed advocacy perspective.