“I want to be out there on the firing line, helping, directing or doing something to try to make this a better world, a better place to live.”
– John Hope Franklin
The story of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, Inc. is just beginning. It is a story filled with:
- Drama –Waiting eight years for state funding
- Resolve –Securing $950,000+ funding to complete the Park
- Patience – Overseeing construction of Reconciliation Park and establishing an organizational framework
- Action – Launching five major program initiatives in its first year of operation
Beginning with the 2008 groundbreaking for Reconciliation Park, which was Dr. John Hope Franklin’s last public appearance before his death in March 2009, the Center’s Board of Directors has created an exciting vision –
to transform the bitterness and mistrust caused by years of racial division, even violence, into a hopeful future of reconciliation and cooperation for Tulsa and the nation.
A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization formed in 2007, the Center is building its reputation through its programs and projects even before there is a building. When completed in December 2009, Reconciliation Park will be a public-private partnership, owned by The City of Tulsa and managed by the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, Inc. Then the work of designing, funding and building the physical Center for Reconciliation will begin.
Board of Directors, with their role on the Board
FAA Consultant
John Hope Franklin Center Chairman
Monica Basu
George Kaiser Family Foundation
Finance and Facilities Committees
Dr. Laura Belmonte
Oklahoma Sate University
Director of American Studies Program
Program Committee
Cason Carter
Alliance Coal
Facilities Committee and
Dinner of Reconciliation Chair
Fatou Ceesay
Bank of Oklahoma
Finance Committee
Sam Combs
ONEOK, Retired Vice Chair
Development Committee
Felicia Collins Correia
YWCA Tulsa
Program Committee
Karen Davis
Tulsa Community Foundation
Program and Development Committees
Selim Fiagome
Office of the Federal Public Defender
Program and Communication Committees
John Gaberino
GableGotwals
Finance Committee
Reuben Gant
Greenwood Chamber of Commerce
Facilities Committee
Nominating Committee Chair
Lee Clark Johns
Strategic Communication Inc.
Program Committee Co-chair
Michael Johnson
The J&A Group, LLC
Former CAO, Williams
Development Committee Chair
Jean Jones
Community Volunteer
Program Committee
Historian
Secretary of Board
Program and Development Committees
Rev. Marlin Lavanhar
All Soul’s Unitarian Church
Communications Committee
Robert Littlejohn
North Tulsa Historical Society
Program Committee
Sheryl Lovelady
Communication Consultant
Communication Committee Chair
Dwain Midget
City of Tulsa
Facilities Committee
Ruth Nelson
Neminis Inc.
Development Committee
Dr. Ray Owens
Metropolitan Baptist Church
Program Committee Co-chair
Rose Washington Rentie
TEDC
Finance Committee Chair
Rand Suffolk
Philbrook Museum of Art
Program Committee
Symposium Chair
Sharon Terry
Tulsa Historical Society
Facilities Committee
Steve Turnbo
Schnake Turnbo Frank
Communications Committee
Dr. Art Williams
Langston University-Tulsa
Program Committee
Dr. Kay Wright
Langston University-Tulsa
Hilary Zarrow
Community Volunteer
Program Committee
