Oklahoma City
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MOORE STRONG NURTURINGgrowth In 1950, seeking a good home for their young family, Alton and Evelyn EXPERIENCE FRITTS FARM Fritts built a simple farmhouse and chicken coop on a 160-acre farm at the southwest corner of what is now Southwest 19th Street and Telephone Road SHOPPING OUR 660 S.W. 19TH in Moore, Oklahoma. The area was rural, shopping was limited and services The Home Depot RETAIL CENTER were few, but a supportive community made it an ideal place to raise a family. Target Qdoba Dick’s Sporting Goods Orange Leaf Yogurt Fast-forward over half a century, and Moore is still a great place for families, Hemispheres (new, Jersey Mike’s and Fritts Farm hosts a bustling retail development where neighbors find opened in 2013) Great Clips everything they need. As we plan for future generations, our vision is to Sprint DINING provide a high quality, mixed-use development that will grow alongside our Lenscrafters Chick-fil-A neighbors’ families. Come join us. Starbucks COMMUNITY Chili’s City of Moore ON THE FARM... Jack in the Box Fire Station No. 1 Young Fritts makes friends and learns how to Raising Canes live in the country, just like Pop and Grammy Del Taco (coming soon) In the 1960’s, Edward Lorenz coined the butterfly effect concept that small events can have Fritts’ family did in 1950. Read about their Dairy Queen (coming soon) large, widespread consequences. It is called the butterfly effect because Lorenz believed a adventures in Moorey Mole books! Available hurricane could be caused by the impact a butterfly flapping its wings has on the wind across online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. the globe. Possibilities believes that when we engage with our program partners from the foundation of our core values, they in turn create innovations that transform the world we live in. You may wonder how treating someone with dignity or building trust or having integrity can make a significant change in Oklahoma City. We call this the “Possibilities effect.” Like A proposed mixed-use development the butterfly effect, seemingly small and insignificant acts can make monumental changes. In including office, retail and residential fact, read on to hear about many of our partners Possibilities effect; the impact Possibilities has had on them as individuals, how that has impacted their families, and the impact they have 405.237.1153 ~ www.fritts.net had on their communities. We are humbled by the Possibilities effect and the lives that have At Telephone Road and Southwest 19th Street, Moore, OK been transformed because of building our work from a foundation of values. Possibilities, INC. Page 2 Possibilities, INC. Page 3 Message from the President Are you familiar with the theory of “the butterfly effect”? inner-city communities being rebuilt. Midtown has grown and expanded substantially, as Essentially, this is the theory that a small change at one place well as the Plaza District. Downtown and Bricktown are drawing more residents and those in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. In areas are moving to support neighborhoods as well as businesses. Thus, this is potentially the other words, a single change that may appear to be of very best time for growth in community work in the surrounding areas. Despite the facts, we little consequence can create the impetus for driving other continue to see not-for-profit agencies struggle to survive and carry out missions, especially in changes that are collectively significant in their positive community outreach and improvement. Our organization needs investment in our ongoing impact on the outcome of the efforts. Sound like a sci- and future projects of the seasoned Community Innovators in our program. Our staff provides fi scenario? It most definitely is not. Although we did not an amazing level of service and strives to cover all possible avenues to manage through coin the phrase or the theory, we do believe that there is the challenges which they must navigate. Like all organizations, we must find support from a “Possibilities Effect” when one of our community partners the area in which our work is done. Possibilities continues to reach out in some new ways to makes a positive change as a result of the support and develop additional support networks. mentoring provided by our organization. This was the vision in an initiative that preceded the formation of Possibilities, Because we are in a period of reinventing our city and turning our older areas back into thriving Inc. which was called Central Oklahoma 2020. communities, Oklahoma City is in great need of community involvement and connecting people who can and should work together for a better life in their neighborhoods and schools. The 1994 Central Oklahoma 2020 initiative was developed Most people intuitively know this, yet there is a strong tendency to set aside goals that are jointly by Leadership Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma difficult and require the support of others. Uncertain economic times have contributed to City Community Foundation, and brought together ninety these pressures, and without the motivation and mentoring of organizations like ours, we diverse citizens to create a vision of what Central Oklahoma cannot expect that community improvement will be strong and rise above the struggles that should be by the year 2020. Our organization emerged from the goal to strengthen families our Community Innovators are facing. Oklahoma City needs Possibilities tools, training and through neighborhood based systems. Although the Oklahoma City area has undergone moral support to lead their neighborhoods, schools, and communities through improvement. numerous changes since 1994, the central founding principle for Possibilities, Inc. is unchanged— to connect people and change lives by strengthening their families and their neighborhoods. The programs of Possibilities are long-term in nature by design. The journey begins with our new participants, but a critical use of funding received is deployed into supporting community work The ability to relate on a personal level, literally one-on-one, to all of our participants and and projects that are underway and showing successful results, in addition to supporting current alumni is a unique feature of our organization. We believe that strong relationships are needed projects for our latest Community Innovators. This support is critical in allowing community before strong communities can be built. It was true in 1994, and it is true now. Our community changes to become permanent, rather than resulting in the need for assistance from various partners don’t need us to tell them what to do or to do it for them. What they want and need is charitable organizations again and again. The full cycle of the “Possibilities Effect” cannot training, coaching, mentoring, encouragement and support. People own the processes they be experienced unless the small changes implemented today are supported in the future to make happen themselves; the ownership of the change comes from the pride and courage become lasting and significant changes. along the journey to make it happen. Small successes DO grow to large accomplishments, and we have seen our community partners blossom as their confidence in their own ability For the third consecutive year, we have a Founders Vision Match in honor of Linda Lambert grows. The staff at Possibilities develops lasting relationships with the people going through the and John Rex to match December donations. Please join in the continued support of the program, but more importantly they provide continuous training and support on how to build permanent positive changes resulting from the work being done by Possibilities, so that relationships with others. Many community efforts fail, or must be repeated as a result of the together we can pursue constant improvement for Oklahoma City and its neighborhoods, relationship building step being skipped or minimized. No change can be sustained unless the schools and communities. Many of you have faithfully and generously devoted your time and owners believe in it and continue to do so. financial support to our organization over the years, and for that we wish to convey to you our utmost gratitude. Oklahoma City continues to pick up the pace, moving more rapidly toward being a city of the future, and is reinventing itself in the midst of some very exciting times. We are seeing more Lucy Fritts American Fidelity Assurance Company President, Possibilities Board of Directors Possibilities, INC. Page 4 Possibilities, INC. Page 5 About Possibilities The Possibilities Effect DEVON ENERGY JESSE WELLS POSSIBILITIES, INC. MEMBER OF THE BOARD I first heard about Possibilities through two avenues at the same time. First, I became friends with staff member Byron Jackson about 9 years ago, and also members of Twenty years ago, 90 private and public stakeholders created a plan for the future, called the Board were my colleagues at work and they were Central Oklahoma 2020. As they pursued input from over 2,000 individuals, including people of always talking about the organization and the love all backgrounds, religions, ages and cultures, those from small cities and towns, rural areas and John Rex had for it. These 2 things made me want to cosmopolitan communities, a shared vision of an extraordinary, caring and generous community get to know what they did and when I found out all emerged. Much of the renaissance that we enjoy today began with this effort. the positive influences they have on the community, I wanted to be a part of it. I now serve on the Board But even more important than the vision, this success was based on 12 Initiatives, some designed myself. to be replaced or reformed over time. Of the original 12, the only initiative still in existence, and still continuing to strengthen central Oklahoma families through neighborhood-based support systems Before getting to know Possibilities, I was already a very is – Possibilities, Inc.! In part, the sustainability of this effort grew out of a basic premise that continues spiritual person and had a very caring, open heart.