Working On A Building,
From The Ground Up
WOAB Inc. is a Tulsa-based nonprofit that builds permanent, affordable housing paired with real employment for people rebuilding their lives after incarceration or addiction.
Our Story
A Founding Testimony
WOAB Inc. (“Working On A Building”) exists because of one man’s recovery. Jake Thompson, Co-Founder of WOAB, has been sober since March 27, 2021. That date isn’t a footnote in WOAB’s history — it’s the founding testimony. WOAB was born from the conviction that the same grace that rebuilt one life could be structured into a housing ministry that rebuilds others. The name comes from an old bluegrass song by Bill Monroe, “Working on a Building,” about turning away from vice and instead working on a Holy Ghost building. That’s exactly what WOAB is doing — literally, in the business of building homes, and lives, through Bible study, discipleship, and community.
Our Philosophy
Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit — “A grape is changed by living with other grapes.”
Transformation is contagious in community. You become who you live with. Iron sharpens iron.
WOAB exists to build the kind of community where that transformation has room to happen.
Faith & Discipleship
WOAB carries a Christ-centered discipleship dimension — what Jake describes simply as trying to hang out with the same people Jesus hung out with. Every morning starts with a 30–45 minute Bible study built around the YouVersion Bible app’s verse of the day, with people talking openly about how that verse meets them in their own life right now. After work, there are discipleship groups and other Bible tudies for anyone who wants to go deeper. None of it is mandatory. The invitation is open to anyone; the hope is that proximity to a healthy, honest community does what isolation cannot.
WHAT WE DO
The Reentry & Recovery Workforce Mission
Many of the people WOAB is built to serve are coming out of incarceration, addiction, or
both — populations that conventional developers and conventional employers aren’t
structured to absorb.
WOAB acts as a workforce development incubator. We absorb the training cost and the
learning curve for people coming from hardship backgrounds, and we actively build
relationships with employers across trades and industries who are willing to give
someone a second chance. The goal is a real employment match — one that fits a
person’s actual interests, gifts, and talents, not just the nearest open position.
We don’t provide clinical programming — no case management, no counseling, no
addiction treatment. Those services already exist in Tulsa’s nonprofit ecosystem. Our
distinct contribution is what almost no one else offers: stable housing paired with a real,
dignified job.
How the Model Works
WOAB acquires or controls land for affordable housing developments.
WOAB engages Prime Craftsman Homes as the construction contractor on every
build — permanently-founded modular homes, code-equivalent to site-built
construction, produced at a fraction of the cost and timeline.
WOAB accesses the nonprofit grant and subsidy stack that no for-profit developer
can reach.
WOAB develops and stabilizes each community, then transfers ownership of the
stabilized asset to a qualified operating entity.
WOAB operates on cost-recovery, not profit. Every dollar saved on overhead stays in
the project, making housing more affordable for the people it serves.
A gift to WOAB isn’t funding a middleman — it’s funding the bridge between a person’s
recovery and a stable, permanent home and a paycheck.
Building Second Chances
Every home WOAB builds starts with a person, not a blueprint. We partner with Prime
Craftsman Homes to build permanently-founded, code-compliant modular homes — and
we partner with employers across Tulsa willing to give someone coming out of hardship
a real second chance. Housing and work, together, is how a life gets rebuilt.
Housing — Permanently-founded, affordable homes, built to last.
Work — A workforce network matching people to jobs that fit their gifts, not just the
nearest opening.
Community — Daily Bible study, discipleship groups, and a community built on
second chances.
Contact Us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!