The City of Oilton is applying for a $60,000 grant to improve our city park. The funding comes from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, known as TSET, a state trust established by Oklahoma voters to improve the health of our communities. The application deadline is March 30.
TSET’s Community Healthy Incentive Grant program helps cities and towns create environments that encourage healthier lifestyles. That means more opportunities for physical activity, better outdoor spaces, and support for healthier choices. Across Oklahoma, these grants have helped communities build walking trails, basketball courts, splash pads, and playground equipment.
Our project would improve several areas of the park so that it better serves residents of all ages. Ideas that have been discussed include improvements to the pickleball and tennis courts, updated swing sets, replacement benches, and the possible addition of outdoor exercise equipment. Whether someone is eight years old or eighty, a community park should offer something that gets people outside and moving.
A park is more than infrastructure. It is where children learn to play, where families spend time together, and where neighbors run into each other on a Saturday morning. Spaces like that matter in a small town.
Over the past several months, I have been researching grant opportunities and working with fellow council members to align our city ordinances with the program’s health standards. That groundwork led to the council voting to move forward with this application. Council members Bonnie Casey and Julia Bagwell are helping complete the application process.
Applying for a grant like this takes coordination. It requires documentation, contractor estimates, a project timeline, and compliance with program requirements. But for a town our size, $60,000 in outside funding is significant. It is the kind of opportunity that allows small communities to make improvements that might otherwise take years.
The work is underway. And if this grant comes through, our park will be a place the whole community can be proud of.