TULSA, Okla — The Free Forum for Real Economic Emancipation organization, also known as FREE, hosted a forum with three panel speakers, featuring Mayor Monroe Nichols.
The panel discussed the importance of residents being able to speak up on what needs they think need to be invested into as well as progressive taxes, also known as participatory budgeting.
WATCH: COMMUNITY FORUM: Community discusses resident input on budget
It's when tax rates increase as income increases.
Community members were asked to participate in open questioning.
Residents brought up homelessness, another hot topic in Tulsa.
Mayor Nichols reiterated his goal of achieving functional zero homelessness in Tulsa by 2030.
He said he wants as much feedback as possible from the community on how he can help.
Homar Vicencio-Escalera said he was born and raised in Tulsa and wants to see it grow for the better, even more than it already has.
“Knowledge is power," he said. "If you feel powerless about what's going on in the world, knowledge can get you there, and being more involved is always a good recipe.”
Vicencio-Escalera said forums like these have helped him become more involved and learn more about his own viewpoints.
“I personally pay a lot of sales taxes because I buy a lot of stuff," he said. "So I want to see more progressive sales tax for everybody involved, so we can help individuals across the board, not just the rich.”
Clara Mattei is the president of FREE and is hoping connect the community more through the grassroots organization.
“We're building a community that hopefully will be strong enough to make small but important changes," she said.
She said she wants to be able to provide a support system for people as well as a way to gain more knowledge on different topics.
“Our goal is to raise awareness as to how broken our economy is for people, but how people can have the power to change this economy by participating," she said. "We brought in experts that show how at a local level, we can improve our taxation system to actually work to share resources from the top to the bottom, rather than the other way around.”
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