All photos courtesy of Timothy Brestowski Photography @TimsSocialMedia
The murder of George Floyd has caused an eruption of justified protests against racism and the abuse of power. This is a call to action – for those who have the ability and the privilege in our community, we must intentionally make decisions in a new way. We must do better.
We are here to acknowledge the role that city planning and development policies and practices have in creating and perpetuating systemic inequalities that directly harm people of color. There is great data on this in the City of Fort Worth Race and Culture Task Force recommendations or in the United Way of Tarrant County's Community Assessment Report.
We know that Fort Worth strives to be a community that welcomes its neighbors and cares for others - its what gives us that "little big town" feel. As we grow to become one of the largest cities in America, we must evolve this culture to meet the needs of our community. It is up to us to drive out ignorance, listen to our neighbors' needs, and set a cornerstone for our city's future.
We need a shared vision for the city driven by the everyday people who live here.
Community Design | Fort Worth believes in the grassroots' power to bring significant change to our world. We are committed to building up our community by giving our citizens a voice in a shared Vision for Fort Worth. We are actively establishing a framework through data and innovative community outreach techniques to set collective goals and track accomplishments as our city grows. This data will help our leaders work faster to correct issues that our current built environment perpetuates. As Jane Jacobs said in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, "Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody." Community Design | Fort Worth is stepping up to amplify Fort Worth's collective voice so our leaders can hear you, understand your needs, and build a just and inclusive city.
What are our next steps?
We are actively working on diversifying our Board of Directors to ensure our leadership better represents the people we are advocating for.
We are launching a community vision mapping project, starting with a series of qualitative survey questions aimed at identifying trends throughout the neighborhoods. These questions will help us understand not only what needs to change or be preserved but where this needs to happen.
We are simultaneously launching a project to better connect Texas Wesleyan and the Poly Heights neighborhood in partnership with UTA. In the next months, we will start actively seeking community partners in that neighborhood.
Please join us and help us create this vision together.
Brad Lonberger
Chair
Community Design | Fort Worth
Resources:
Video - Segregated by Design
Video - Richard Rothstein, “The Color Of Law” (with Ta-Nehisi Coates
Article - 8 must read books on US land use and housing policy
Free eBook - How Racism Shaped the Housing Crisis & What We Can Do About It
Article - COVID-19 Puts Structural Racism On Full Display — Will We Finally Do Something to Correct It?
