The community's response to the ongoing Lawton Unhoused situation was to collaborate during the 60-day window granted from the City of Lawton in June, 2026.
The goal was to find better solutions and establish a more promising course of action before the encampment at the 1300 block of E Avenue in Lawton, known as "Tent City" was closed.
At the time of the first coordinated effort, everyone thought we had the full 60 days, as promised, and began working together to find solutions, identify the primary issues/concerns and ensure everyone was aware of the services and organizations, locally, that may provide aid in these areas.
You can listen to full news story above for more background information and what brought us to this first meeting.
On Thursday, July 9th, 2026 at 0900 the Community Action Forum met for Phase I of the Lawton Unhoused Initiative.
More than 100 people gathered in the Johnson Auditorium in Ross Hall at Cameron University's Lawton campus.
The extensive line-up of speakers included:
Jari Askins-City of Lawton Attorney
Eric DiGiacomo-Oklahoma Attorney General's Office
Kandis Cotton-in place of SGT Matt Dimmit (LPD Liaison) shared her personal experience with homelessness and local resources
Dr. Amista Chambers-Memorial Medical and mental health
Melissa Sims-Comanche County Health Dept.
(Ret. Col.) Scott Patton-Centurion Chapel
Jeff Henderson-M28 Ministries
Shelby Tucker-Catalyst Behavioral Services
Alex Minter McCann-Lawton Food Bank
Adrienne Davis-Hungry Hearts Feeding Ministry
Brenda Spencer-Ragland (D. Ed.)-Embrace Hope and C. Carter Crane Shelter
More information on the many resources and services across the Lawton community can be found at: https://www.uwswok.org/resources
The Phase I meeting was primarily for "fact-finding" and to outline the current systems and resources in place, as well as the roles and responsibilities of some, to better understand how we can move forward.
Next is Phase II which will be conducted on Friday, July 24th and I will have more on that story in the next article.
