OKLAHOMA CITY – City and nonprofit leaders came together on a muggy, windy summer afternoon Wednesday to cut the ribbon on one of MAPS 4’s most vital and engaging community projects, the new downtown headquarters for OKC’s Diversion Hub.
Designed as a one-stop source for “diversion” services, the new building boasts legal aid, treatment courts, housing resources, financial aid, and more, all with a shared aim of helping OKC residents that have been impacted by the justice system – whether through arrest or otherwise – to avoid jail time.
The $19 million City project was one of the community support pillars of 2019’s voter-approved MAPS 4 package, and its completion comes at an auspicious time, with the Oklahoma County Detention Center less than one mile away facing crowding, funding, and staffing issues, as well as an increasing battle over transportation.
The newly updated, consolidated, and fully-funded Diversion Hub will hope to head off those issues by helping people stay out of jail and stay on a path of progress and support.
“We want everybody to be productive members of our community and to live in freedom and to realize their dreams,” Mayor David Holt said at Monday’s ribbon-cutting event. “It makes a better community. We don’t want people to live lives that end in prison or jail.”
Support and guidance
Though the new home for Diversion Hub was built as a City-funded project through the MAPS sales tax, the services inside span numerous nonprofit resources and community partnerships, all coming together in an effort to streamline and coordinate needed services for those navigating the justice system.
For the drivers behind the scenes, including Diversion Hub founder and board leader Sue Ann Arnall, the ultimate goal is to help break the social cycles of systemic poverty, racism, and disenfranchisement that often drive incarceration, but also to break the belief that jail, policing, and harsher sentencing are the only solutions to those cycles.
“Diversion Hub’s work has shown that it is worth it to guide people out of the justice system and support them on their way,” Arnall told the crowd Wednesday, referring to what she called an “over-reliance on incarceration.”
That same sentiment was echoed by Ward 6 City Councilor JoBeth Hamon, in whose ward the new Diversion Hub facility stands – near Linwood Blvd. and Western Ave. – and who was on hand for a rare ribbon-cutting appearance and remarks.
“This new home,” Hamon said, “will allow the Diversion Hub to expand its mission of helping people stabilize their lives, removing our reliance on jail and prison as a response to social problems.”
Hamon, like many of the afternoon’s speakers, championed the community effort that made the new building possible and reiterated the ways that a diversion-oriented approach can improve the lives of everyone in a community, even for those that never need its services.
“When we prioritize and create systems that work for the most vulnerable, for the people and the communities that our systems have historically marginalized,” she said, “it actually makes our community and makes our day-to-day better for all of us, even if we’ve never experienced that marginalization.”
‘Success and greatness’
The community turnout Wednesday was notably large, with an overflowing audience gathered outside for the speeches and ribbon-cutting and a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd headed inside to see the building once the doors were opened.
A large and visible part of that crowd was made up of Diversion Hub staff and community partners – all sporting matching Diversion Hub shirts – and they were easily the day’s most clearly and vocally excited guests.
“This is just success and greatness, that’s what it means to me,” Dr. Star Young told Free Press after the ceremony.
Dr. Young provides assistance and assessments for drug and substance abuse-related arrests and is one of the community partners providing her services through Diversion Hub.
“I work with a lot of individuals that get out of prison and that are dealing with a lot,” Dr. Young said. “So for Diversion Hub to be there for them, and to all be housed here for them, it’s just awesome.”
Brett Fieldcamp is the owner and Editor in Chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly two decades and served as Arts & Entertainment Editor before purchasing the company from founder Brett Dickerson in 2026.
He is also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
