District 5

Karen Gilbert

Phone: 918-596-1925

FAX: 918-596-1964

About

Karen Gilbert is a native of Tulsa and was first elected to the Tulsa City Council in 2011. She was voted Chair by her colleagues in 2013 and currently serves as Vice Chair.

Gilbert has been the Executive Director of the Tulsa Crime Prevention Network, also known as Tulsa Crime Stoppers, for over seven years. She has grown the organization to lead Tulsa in community policing and started several programs, such as Project Trust and Tulsa Police Reading Patrol, that involve oﬃcers in classrooms to build relationships and trust with Tulsa youth.

Gilbert was employed with Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) for over eighteen years. She was a ﬁnalist for Tulsa Public School’s Support Employee of the Year, chosen out of 3,000 candidates.

Gilbert is very involved in her community, particularly with TPS. She served in numerous leadership positions in the Parent Teacher Association, including President at Memorial High School, Byrd Middle School, and Key Elementary. Gilbert also served as President of the Tulsa Council of PTAs. Additionally, she served on the advisory council for “Project Schoolhouse” where she organized and moderated Community Town Hall Forums during the planning and implementation of school closures. She served on a Bullying Task Force, which initiated a bullying policy for the school district. Gilbert also created and implemented a mentoring program between Key Elementary and Memorial High School called Chargers in Training, which involved high school football players engaging with elementary students in leadership and athletic activities.

While serving on the City Council, Gilbert led the Public Safety Task Force to create the ﬁrst City of Tulsa Public Safety Tax ballot initiative to add 160 police oﬃcers and 65 ﬁreﬁghters. The citizens of Tulsa overwhelmingly approved the initiative. Throughout her tenure, Gilbert has been responsible for numerous ordinances and programs to help cut back on crime and improve the community including:

Towing Ordinance, empowering police oﬃcers to tow a car if the driver does not have insurance or has an expired tag
Scrap Metal Ordinance, making scrap metal dealers responsible for reporting from whom they buy scrap metal and when
Chronic Nuisance Ordinance, making businesses responsible for keeping their property safe and cutting down on false alarm calls for police and ﬁre
Adopt A Spot, a city-wide program that encourages businesses, groups, or neighborhoods to adopt a city park, median, or right-of-way and keep it clean and/or landscaped
Greenwaste Task Force, exploring how to recycle residents’ green waste with a new trash system
Amending proposed city budgets to include funding for police academies
Project Trust, a community policing program that puts oﬃcers in front of Tulsa students to discuss their concerns and build relationships

Gilbert’s other accomplishments include:

Tulsa’s Fraternal Order of Police Councilor of the Year for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
2015 Oklahoma Journal Record 50 Women Making A Diﬀerence
2014 Tulsa World’s Ten “People to Watch”
2011 Honoree of the Festival of Hope, chaired by Governor Fallen
Graduate of Leadership Oklahoma Class 28
Graduate of Leadership Tulsa Class 49
Creating awareness to help pass HB 1661, an Anti-Bullying Bill

Gilbert has been married to Tom for over 34 years. She has three children, including a daughter-in-law and two sons-in-law: Marshall Gilbert and Dennise Arzola, Peyton and Michael Kropiewnicki, and Karsten and Jonathan Villanueva. She has one grandson.

Disclaimer: The opinions or policy positions expressed on District webpages, either directly or indirectly, does not necessarily represent the view or position of the Tulsa City Council or the City of Tulsa.