Kelvin Batten
About Me
Minister Kelvin Batten, Founder, and Chairman of Oklahoma Center of Empowerment, Inc, has made the betterment of the community his company’s mission. Guided by his Christian faith, love for his family and loyalty to his country, Minister Kelvin Batten is a mentor to the men and women under his leadership. Though he is recognized for service to the community and particularly military veterans, it is difficult to separate him from his years in the United States Army. Throughout his twenty plus years of honorable service, Minister Batten has seen diverse parts of the world and shared his good and bad experiences with many people from all walks of life. It is those twenty years that transformed Minister Batten from -in his words a “knucklehead” -into a focused leader of people. Minister Batten’s service to his country did not end with his retirement from the United States Army in 1995, his services to his country continued.
At that time he realized that adjusting and being competitive in the private civilian sector was more challenging than he originally thought it would be. Minister Batten pursued his college degree at the University of Maryland while working in executive positions for Fortune 500 companies. Nonetheless, the most impressive thing was not simply completing a degree as an adult student, but deciding to become a job creator after his 2003 graduation. In order to build capital and credibility, he kept his executive-level position until a consulting job brought him here to Oklahoma, where he began his business in 2005. From 2005 onwards, his business saw a consistent evolution from a company that simply found jobs for people with disabilities; to an organization that now not only provides those services but features new services that focus on our Christian community, the low-moderate income community, individuals returning from incarceration, our disabled community, helping individuals with learning disabilities in our public schools, and help individuals start their own businesses in the community.
For the past few years, Minister Batten saw the need to focus more on the community within our communities since he and OCoE found success. Minister Batten says daily “He needed to do the Lord’s work and pay his blessings forward to our community”. Over the past nine years, Minister Batten has been a more stalwart advocate for veterans and veteran-owned businesses. From the halls of Tulsa City council to the halls of Oklahoma’s State Capital, Minister Batten fights for veterans and people with disabilities. Even if defeated, Minister Batten would still look on the bright side, come away with a lesson and keep trying.
As a Global Speaker and Minister, driven by his passion to advocate for our Veterans, his was inspired to Author “Life Changing Self-Awareness”. As an entrepreneur and establishing OCoE was named “Honorable Kentucky Colonels” from the Governor of the State of Kentucky and was awarded the 2013 Veterans Incentive Award from the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, providing services to over 2,200 Individuals since 2005. Additionally, OCoE has constructed incubator offices for Veterans who are starting their own businesses, partnering with State Officials, and other state and local organizations in an effort to support our Veterans, and our community. In August 2014, Kelvin Batten was ordained as a Minister and oversees the International Christian Empowerment Center.