Big Changes at LTFF
Author: Elizabeth Frame Ellison, President & CEO
In 2017, on LTFF’s 20th anniversary, we announced plans for Mother Road Market, Oklahoma’s only nonprofit food hall. Mother Road Market opened on my birthday: November 2, 2018 and exceeded sales projections by 300% in its first year of operation.
Left to right: Wyatt Ellison, Taylor Ellison, Elizabeth Frame Ellison, Bill Lobeck, Mayor GT Bynum, Kathy Taylor
This year, for our 25th anniversary, we plan to celebrate the completion of the Tulsa Market District streetscape project along Route 66, concentrating our programmatic and grantmaking efforts on the microdistrict to create an inclusive destination district that prioritizes increased economic activity, economic equity, pride of place and improved physical infrastructure. Additionally, we will reflect on the barriers we decreased in our community over the last five years as Mother Road Market and the Tulsa Market District grew from a dream into a district.
This year, we will also welcome new leadership to our team. On June 1, 2022, I will transition from managing the daily operations of LTFF to leading the Foundation board assuming the position of Chairwoman of the LTFF Board of Directors. As Board Chair, I will remain an active participant in strategy and growth initiatives. I will also continue to speak, write and advocate on behalf of the organization and the community we serve.
Brian Paschal, currently the Managing Director of LTOF, has been named incoming Chief Executive Officer of LTFF and will assume responsibility for the Foundation’s daily operations June 1. Brian will have full decision-making authority and we will work together on strategic planning, impact and growth.
As part of this transition, we also welcomed a new Chief Financial Officer, Larry Faulkner, February 21, 2022. Larry will support LTFF and the LT Operating Foundation in developing a long range plan for programmatic financial sustainability in addition to overseeing the financial functions of the organization.
Before my transition, we will also hire an Executive Director for the Lobeck Taylor Operating Foundation to replace the managing director position currently filled by Brian Paschal. While the oversight and management duties will largely stay the same, we will emphasize achieving the five-year vision of each program, while supporting the LTFF operating system that aims to advance equity, pride of place, physical infrastructure and economic activity to decrease barriers to building generational wealth within the Tulsa Market District. In addition, this role will drive the pursuit of government and philanthropic funding for Mother Road Market and Kitchen 66. These efforts will help crystallize the programs as sustainable, operating nonprofits in their own right.
Additionally, we will hire a program officer for LTFF to administer grants and use data to assess programmatic impact. This person will work closely with both the Lobeck Taylor Operating Foundation Executive Director and individual program directors, as well as grantees to assess and analyze the impact metrics summarized by the LTFF Operating Model developed in 2021, as well as the impact metrics for the Tulsa Market District (where grantmaking is focused). This crucial data collection and evaluation will help us set our annual goals and long-range vision for growth and impact, and help us to determine how we can further leverage our experience to support others.
The last two years tested LTFF as a team. At every turn, the team was willing to push in, to try again, to wave from a screen, and to pivot our job responsibilities to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances of a global pandemic. We worked behind the scenes to fulfill our mission and decrease barriers, even when it was harder than ever.
Watching these leaders grow and positively impact the organization, bringing their own unique approaches and solutions, helped me realize how much our organization has changed since I became the Foundation’s first (and only) employee 13 years ago. What began as a grantmaking organization to support the growth of entrepreneurship, is now a thriving foundation that decreases barriers for underestimated Tulsa small business entrepreneurs through grantmaking and two two nationally recognized operating programs! We were able to achieve this vision and mission all while developing an inclusive destination district along Route 66!
I am proud of the vision we have worked to bring to life. We are doing good, important and meaningful work, and we will continue to do so.
After five years of rapid growth and innovation, and in this third calendar year of managing through a pandemic, 2022 is finally the time to stabilize so we can assess our work (through impact assessments and success metrics) and understand, based on data, the most impactful ways we can make a difference in the future. In preparation for this year, we collaborated to develop a five-year vision for our organization and its programs. We did a cultural assessment and gained insight into how LTFF can improve and, this year, we will focus our professional development around diversity, equity and inclusion to make progress toward prioritizing equity in our work.
Last year, as I ate on the patio of Mother Road Market, I looked around and, for the first time, I saw the results of what we had built in those people around me. I saw moms bouncing babies on the couches. I saw teens eating insane amounts of food at a long row of tables pushed together. I saw three families, all adults, sitting close together while their kids rolled on the turf. And, I saw a couple who HAD to be on a first date awkwardly play mini golf behind two seniors with nothing but time. I felt a lump in my throat as I realized what our team had achieved together in building the Mother Road Market community.
Through Mother Road Market and Kitchen 66, people from completely different backgrounds are finding common ground through food and curated space. Twenty five years from now, I know that sense of immense pride will only grow as LTFF, Kitchen 66 and Mother Road Market continue to thrive and the Tulsa Market District continues to develop.