 Welcome to this episode of Fort Worth Forward. We're here at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden where we're going to interview Patrick Newman, who's the CEO and president of the garden, as well as Steve Montgomery with the Fort Worth Chamber and Melinda Hamilton, founder of Mothers of Murdered Angels. The garden is great. Let's get inside and start these interviews. Now I'm here with Patrick Newman, who is CEO and president of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. That's sometimes a mouthful, isn't it? It is, I'm still getting used to it, but yeah. Good, I'm not the only one there, but thank you for being here today. We're in your lovely facilities. Yeah, this is a rough place to work. I can see that. Thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. No, thanks. Your team put all this together out here just this morning. Yeah, we really do have the best team here. We're fortunate to have great horticulturists in Fort Worth and just really great people, so kudos to the team, absolutely. Well, tell us a little bit about your story, how you got here to Fort Worth. Yeah, so I mean, really my sort of track to Fort Worth and to public gardens begins years and years ago. My first experience with a public garden or a botanic garden was when I was eight years old. My grandmother took me to visit a garden for the first time, and that experience really was sort of inspirational for me, and it started me on a path of inquiry. I devoured science as a kid, ended up at the university, knew I would study science, thought I wanted to be a doctor, and then I took a plant physiology class as an undergrad and remembered plants have always been a part of my life, and so I graduated from college, tried to figure out how to make a career out of plants, joined the Peace Corps to kind of refine my career goals. Where'd you serve in the Peace Corps? I was in Azerbaijan with my wife. Yeah, we were the first group of volunteers in, and that's a whole other story for another day. Were y'all married at the time? We were, yeah, we were married. Sort of an extended honeymoon for us, but it was awesome. I mean, tremendous experience. Came back from that and knew that what I really wanted to do career-wise was help people to kind of arrive at that intersection of people and plants. There's a ton of inspiration, there's a ton of hope, there's a lot to be learned, there's immense power in that intersection, and so I wanted to help people get to that intersection and arrive at that power, and so came back from the Peace Corps, started working at Rebut Garden back at my alma mater at the University of Utah. Did that for like a decade, got recruited to come down to, the University of Texas recruited me to come down to Austin. Worked at Ladyborough Johnson Wildflower Center, which was an amazing experience. Did that for a number of years, and then in late 2020, I got a phone call, they said, hey, there's exciting things happening in Fort Worth with Britt and the Fort Botanic Garden. Would you be interested, and I'm no fool. Of course, I saw the opportunity and said, let's do this, and here I am a couple years later, loving Fort Worth, loving Britt, loving the Botanic Garden, this is amazing. That's wonderful, and you kind of came in after there'd been a little controversy about this, how that had come together. There was a lot of preemie on the council, so it worked through a lot of that, but it was really about putting the investment back in this garden. I grew up coming here. My wife's bridal portraits were taken just over here, so I think all of us had an affinity, all Fort Worthians, there's certain places that this is my Fort Worth. This is one of them. This is one of them, for sure, and we got through that, and now we're working through, you've helped develop this master plan. So tell us about that and how that came together. Yeah, we're really excited about that. I mean, I think, to me, that showcases the public-private investment in this place and what we've been able to do with this new arrangement. We're thrilled about the master plan. I mean, there's some key projects. One right now that we're really excited about is the family garden. The Baker Martin Family Garden is a two-acre garden that is designed for children and the adults that they bring with them. So, I mean, interactive play spaces, it's really kind of a fun zone for children to come and create emotional souvenirs with parents and grandparents. That's the first piece that will kick off. And we are, I mean, we are in full force working on that right now. You know, I think one of the other beloved programs here at the garden is the partnership we have with the Symphony Orchestra and concerts in the garden. Fun times during the summer. And so we realize along with the symphony that we need to have a permanent structure if we're gonna make that economically viable and really look at something long-term. So that's another exciting project. We'll put a permanent stage facility in and really that allows us to do even more than just symphony and orchestra. We can bring additional music, performance art, movies, all kinds of things. So I think I see the garden becoming more of a cultural hub for those types of activities as well. New entry experience, I mean, new garden spaces. The master plan is probably gonna take us 20 years to do all of it. But there are so many inspirational moments in that master plan and the opportunity to continue to really preserve key spaces like the Rose Garden, like the Japanese garden that are beloved, rightfully so, by so many in our community. For sure. Now, thank you for that. You kind of talked about, I mean, the facade out front will change. I mean, it'll just be just from the moment you leave university a different experience when you come in, right? I think people get a sense of that. One of the projects we just completed, which again was a public-private partnership with the city, was converting Old Garden Road, you know, one of the old asphalt roads in the garden to a beautiful pedestrian promenade. So we brought the plant material in. We converted the asphalt to kind of cut stone and concrete. It really sort of invites you towards the Japanese garden, kind of pulls you in that direction. And so we're really kind of, we're not making wholesale changes, but we're refining what we have here and really sort of elevating the experience for our guests. That's wonderful. So you've talked a little bit about there, but there's 23, I think, specialty gardens. What's your favorite? Why don't you ask me which of my children is my favorite? That might be easier. You know, I have a couple of areas that are near and dear to my heart. I love the Japanese garden. Honestly, that's one of the things that brought me to Fort Worth. When I was interviewing for this job and we were touring the area, I walked to the Japanese garden and thought, if the city of Fort Worth can build something like this, there's nothing this city can't do. That's right. You know, that to me is probably one of the top five Japanese gardens in the country. Really? Yeah, and then you look at the history of the Rose Garden, and if a city can build, maintain, and really preserve a space like that, that generations have walked away from that space with powerful emotional souvenirs, wedding photos, engagement portraits, dates, proposals, those sort of things are happening in that space. And so I love those too, but for me, there's a corner of the perennial garden that is just sort of a quiet space that when we're looking at my office, when it's a really hard day here, I like to kind of just sort of retreat to that space. And it's an opportunity to kind of collect my thoughts and really experience the quiet joys that can only be found in nature. But what are some of the challenges you know that you're going to face? Which then you can have some respite here at the garden, right? You know, I think some of our challenges are, we are a part of a vibrant and growing community, and there's a demand for the garden, and we want to meet that demand. And I think we want to be open to the idea that this community is growing not only in size, but in its diversity. And so how do we provide spaces, programs, opportunities for every corner of the community to feel welcome and feel like they authentically belong? And for us, that's a, you know, that's both a challenge and a tremendous opportunity. I think it's part of the promise of this space. I mean, you talked about it. I mean, people have been coming to this garden for a long time. And we want people that are new to the community to come to the garden as well. And feel welcome. And feel welcome and feel like they belong here. So, you know, one of our challenges is how do we, how do we bring exhibits and programs in that invite new parts of the community and continue to serve those who are already sort of part of our choir, if you will. Yes. You know, I mean, it is a, we're 120 acres, so it's large. Right. And then we were founded in 1934. So it's an aging facility in some ways too. So how do you preserve? How do you maintain? How do you expand? And how do you find the funds to do all of that? Which I think a great opportunity is this great public-private partnership that we have with the city of Fort Worth. Definitely, definitely. Well, I appreciate you taking a little chance on Fort Worth. Yeah. And coming here and all you're doing too in the community for sure. This is a place for people to come again, generations as you've already said, come here, have memories here, feel it's a home of sorts. And we've worked out lots of ways for people to come for free in different days, et cetera. Just understood now you have dog days where dogs can come. We're extending our guest profile to four-legged friends. So yes. There you go. So all those. Anybody, anybody. Well, thanks, Patrick. Where can people find you? Yeah, I think the best way to find out what we have going on would be our website, which is fwbg.org. You'll find all the information you need about admission, hours, what programs we have, like our lightscape exhibit that we're running now, which exhibits are coming, butterflies in the garden, dinosaurs, all those things. All the programs. Hit us up on the website. Great. Thanks for being here today. I really appreciate you. Appreciate your leadership. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. And now I'm here with Steve Gubbery, who is the president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber. Welcome, Steve. Thank you very much, Councilman. I enjoyed being here. Yeah, thanks. Thanks. We've been friends for a long time. Yes, sir. And I'm really proud of you now that you're in this new role. Thank you. Let's tell everybody how you ended up or in this new role. Absolutely. So I didn't wake up on January 1st of this year thinking this is the year I'm going to go around the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. But I truly believe when the opportunity came up, I looked at the job description and it read a lot about the way my career has gone. I've been involved in business all my career. I've been involved in public policy and politics and I'm very active in my community. And as I read the job description, it just really resonated with me. And it really feels like the chamber is at that intersection of public policy, of business and of community. And I'm a firm believer that a high-performing, well-functioning chamber has true civic value and my fidelity and commitment to Fort Worth run very deep. And I'm passionate about the success of this community as I know you are. And it just felt like the perfect fit and the perfect opportunity. So I threw my name in the hat and in a moment of weakness, they selected me. No, not at all. You have been a champion for Fort Worth in the area for a long period of time. So it's a natural sort of fit. And we've worked together on different projects and things and always very professional and have that idea of making Fort Worth a better place in mind. So let's talk about how you see the chamber growing and the growth and everything that's happening here in Fort Worth. So what I'm focused on in my few months there is trying to, how do we define and communicate and deliver membership value, right? My members run the gambit from a small mom-and-pop coffee shop to our largest employers. And so how do I serve and deliver membership value to them? And if I'm a small operator, a small businessman my heart and soul is with small businesses. How do I help them grow their business? It might be a permitting issue with the city, helping them get success there or networking with potential customers. If I'm a large employer or my member is a large employer, how do I help them with some workforce and talent issues working with our credentialing entities? So membership value is my overarching theme. Okay, which is what anybody enjoins a professional organization, the association wants to see. Ideally, yes, sir. Yeah, ideally. I'm glad you talked about small businesses and that's a passion of mine. I mean, when we created the Small Business Task Force, which we've now rolled back into the entrepreneurship and innovation committee, but the permitting has always been a real issue and big corporations have the resources. It doesn't mean we don't focus on that too, but they have the resources to kind of maneuver their way through. Small businesses don't. So I'm really proud you're focusing on that, at least as a tenant of what we're doing. And I think that members could find value in that. I believe so. I really do. If you look at some of our peer chambers around the state, Dallas and Houston, they have focused more on their large employers. I think to their detriment, Fort Worth is different. And I think the vibrancy of our local economy really helps in its driven by small business. Right, right. I think we always look at it as an either or, but it's really not. It's a both and. 100%. When you took the role, you highlighted some focus areas. And you want to talk about those? I do. So, these are ways that we want to activate our membership. And if I talk to my members large and small, their number one issue that they tell me that they face is workforce and talent. How do they attract talent? How do they retain talent? So how do I activate my membership in the chamber play a role in helping communicate between the credentialing entities, the schools with our demand side, which are the employers. In other areas that have direct nexus to economic development, obviously infrastructure and mobility. Veterans, there's a lot of energy behind helping veteran entrepreneurs. Veterans translate their skills into the civilian workplace. Issues of small business, again, activating our members in that regard. And then veterans issues. I'm sorry, homelessness issues. There are more and more we're getting feedback from our members in terms of how homelessness impacts their ability to do commerce. And there's great models about that. And we want to engage in a productive, constructive manner. And so these are just ways to activate our members to get them into the dialogue, to get them into the conversation, maybe glean some of their great ideas to help policy makers such as yourself come up with some solutions. That's great. I mean, you've hit on a lot of topics we're talking about on a council with the city. Homeless was one of the things we just talked about too. It does affect businesses. And we can do what some other cities have done and just sort of like, well, you can be anywhere, but then they have to dial that back. I think we've taken a very constructive approach here. I agree. Housing first, looking at the services needed, and then figuring out from there how we continue to look at affordability and the other parts of it. Mental health and other things that we're investing in. So appreciate your leadership there. What excites you about what's going on Fort Worth? You know, Michael, there's so many things that if I look in every direction in Fort Worth, if you start downtown, you know, the South part of downtown with A&M campus and the great growth that's going on there with the convention center and the Omni and all the great things there, if you look East, East Lancaster Corridor, the revitalization of that, it's gonna be very, very transformative. Go North, you know, North side, if you obviously Panther Island, you look at North side, you look at the stock yard, all the way up to Alliance, there's tremendous growth and transformation. Look West and there's contiguous land out there that's just ripe for a major corporate relocation. And the growth is phenomenal. In South, there's phenomenal growth. So you look in every direction and it's like, we're at the threshold of so many incredible opportunities. And I just love to see this in our best efforts and our best minds, we can still get some things wrong. So I think we all need to work collaboratively, focus on the things that matter because we don't want to lose the authenticity of Fort Worth, right? Growth is coming. Do we want it to define us or do we want to define it? And by working collaboratively, I think we can retain our authenticity while still benefiting from the growth. Yeah, for sure. Now I'm glad you have that perspective because we are, we've got to look at all parts of the city, right? Market all parts of the city and invest in all parts of the city. And I think we're trying to do that. What are the challenges you see coming ahead? So managing that growth, right? Determining, defining, articulating that growth is a challenge. It's a great challenge to have. It's a great problem to have. We need to make sure that we're meeting the educational needs of our employers on the workforce side. We have great partners out there that are all focused on the right things, I believe in that regard. Maintaining the right business climate on a policy side of things. So I'm very optimistic. There's really nothing that scares me other than me not doing my job. That's right, that's right. And I think it's worth noting we, chambers changed a little bit. Yes. We've been a new partnership created, economic development partnership. And a little bit, so that's given you the ability, tell us about that, what it kind of gives you the ability to do, focus. Yeah, absolutely. And I could not be more thrilled about when the executive board of the chamber created that separate entity earlier this year and they brought in the best and the brightest with Robert Allen, that signaled to me that they were very serious about how we're gonna do this. And really concentrating on that in the best way possible. For the chamber, that means returning to the fundamentals of membership value, retention and expansion, member benefits, programming. And focusing on those core functions that any good chamber should be doing. We're also innovating in the areas of business intelligence, making sure we're providing data and analytics to our members to help them make better business decisions. Help policy makers make better business decisions. So those are things that I think the chamber can focus on in a really great way and truly bring value to our community. That's wonderful. Thanks for being here. How can people find you? Or website, www.fortworthchamber.com. Good, Steve, thank you. Thanks for what you're doing and appreciate you being here today. Thank you for your leadership. Appreciate you. Thank you. We're back. I'm now here with Melinda Hamilton who is the founder of Mothers of Murdered Angels. Welcome Melinda. Thank you for having me, Mike. Of course, we've been old friends, right? A long time, a long time. You're originally from Fort Worth? Yes. I was born here in Fort Worth. My father retired after Air Force. We had been to Kansas and we came back to retired at Carzler Air Force Base. Yeah, Carzler. Been there and I graduated Carter Riverside high school. And I also graduated from college at U of H. Okay. Came here, had a family, two daughters at the time. And they had a family of two daughters at the time. And then I ended up with four daughters with my husband. Everything. So after that, I'm a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother. Wow, okay. Okay. I retired from UPS. Okay. National Accounts in a county. I was a accountant. And after that, after I retired, I started doing my community service and community work in the neighborhoods. I was president of the Carver Heights, East, Fort Worth. I was president of the Carver Heights, East for over 15 years. Okay. I am president of the East, Fort Worth neighborhood coalition. Okay. And then after doing all of that, I ended up with Mother's and Murdered Angels. Yeah. So tell us how that came about and tragic story and what happened. Yeah. Mother's and Murdered Angels came in, well in 2020, but it all started in 2018. Okay. My daughter, Shamika, was killed and dropped by a shooting where 10 people got shot. The two of them got killed. Wow. It was my daughter. Wow, sorry. So after that, two years later, never expecting that either to happen, I lost my grandson in Arlington. Some bullies shot him in the back, four guys shot him in the back. So that was in February of 2020. So in July of 2020, I said enough was enough. I started my non-profit because I know what me and my family went through and all of the different hurdles we had to go through. So I started Mother's and Murdered Angels by helping parents that have lost their loved ones through gun violence. So I help them with the burial. I start with the burial. Yeah. Some of the services and resources you provide. My resources, the victims assistance, we also work with them. I work with the courts, with the DA's and all of that, go with the families, have meetings with them. After that, whatever else they need, we, our group, we make sure that they have that. And some of the survivors right now are part of my group now, and we have brief sessions, we do trauma in counseling. We also have different organizations that also offer my victims free counseling and services like that. So that, you said, you said burial service, like just the basic, I'm sure when it happens, it's shock. They don't know what's happening. You went through this yourself? Because at that time, you know, you don't know what to do. And if it, of course, if it's your first time, you're a young person, you don't know what to do. Your head is not there. So what we do, we wait till they come to us. We don't just like an ambulance chase when we're not there. We wait for the family or someone to come to us. But now we're, we're getting more, you know, people coming. More recognition so people know that your services are available. But it's, we're here to help. It's not like we enjoy it, but it's, it helps. We help each other, you know. And so that's what we do right now. And now we're going to the schools and talking to the kids about the awareness of bullying and the gun violence because it starts by being a bully and then it escalates to the guns or whatever. So we've been going to some of the schools and we have been, we have passed a couple of, we passed a bill last year. Yes. Victims assistance where if you have to relocate, there wasn't funding for that. Okay. So because my daughter experienced that, you know, if you're standing in a condor or something like that and you're leasing, you have 30 days to get out of that location, even if it's not your fault because they say it's the safety for the other residents. So the feel that we pass for victims assistance, give them extra monies to move to either a new location or out of the state. So we passed that. That was down at the state. Okay. We did. Great. We passed that with the help of our state rep, Nicole. Nicole Collier? Yeah, it's great. Nicole is great. Yeah. No, Nicole is great. Doing a lot of great work. So that's, that's wonderful. It's a tragic situation. Obviously these, the people that come to you, what, what, how can people help you? I mean, get you, what the community provide things that you need to help victims of violence? Well, the way they, they can help us is go to my website, number one for donations. But what we're trying to do right now is get two acres and to build a memorial for all of the loved ones that have gotten killed by gun violence. We have the names of the kids in Uvalde also. We have the ones in Mississippi that got killed too. I know it's out of state, but we don't have anything for a memorial for our loved ones like we do with the veterans, the police, and the military. So we need one somewhere where we can go and, you know, like that. So I'm asking for two acres. You know someone that has two acres that can give it to, well, you know, they can donate it to us though. I know we'll talk. He'll talk. When you went through this, what did, how did you get through it? I guess you'd say. Lots of people out there and yours is very extreme losing a child. But what did you, what did you pull together to get through it? Okay. I kept busy. I kept doing different things. I mean, I just put myself into work and my family because my daughter was going through it and my other, you know, siblings was going through it too. And I just kept myself busy. But I got to a point that year in November, you know, I had that heart attack. You know, it was like, I didn't even know I was having a heart attack. I was still, matter of fact, I was at the funeral home when I had the heart attack. You know, they was like, Melinda, you look kind of, you need to sit down. I was like, no. But when he said it, I sit down and then I knew there was something wrong. But after that, you know, I just kind of started pacing myself. But you know, it's people out there that needs to help, you know. That's right. They need to help. That's what God has led me to, you know. So that's what I do. He does a lot of good things. Yeah, he does. And I've been blessed and everything, you know, my family is, you know, all good. I still have my mother, which is 88. Wow. My father is 87. Wow. So we have five generations right now. Wow. Good for you. We're here. Good for you. What is one thing you want someone that's watching this to know? That we're here for you. I mean, we are here for you because we know you just don't know. Right. If you haven't been there and done that, you just don't know. And hopefully no one has to go through it. Everybody can say, I hope you feel better, you know, you're giving your, you know. But sometimes you just have to get out. And what I do, when I'm feeling that way, I get in my car, I drive from Fort Worth, take that circle around 20, go to Dallas and make the circle back around 30. So you just have to get your own comfort wherever you feel like is helping you. And we try to help as many people as we can. That's great advice. Very nice. Melinda, thanks for being here today. Thank you. I appreciate you and I appreciate how you're helping people through a situation or situation sometimes that they never expected, never, you know, and you're just doing great work. Thank you. Thanks for being a part of our community. Thank you for having me. Of course. Don't forget my gala now. Do you want to tell me when is the gala? The gala is the second week in April of 2024. When we do it, the gala, we recognize people that have been out in the community doing great things that you normally wouldn't see them, but those are the ones that are on the ground. Making a difference. You know, making the difference. Yeah. Thank you. So yes, I will get you the information. There we go. We'll put it on the calendar. Thank you again for all you do. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Fort Worth Forward. If you want to check out their websites and learn more about what they're doing, come see the Botanic Garden out here. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful time of year. Also, if you have any ideas for guests, email us at district3atfortworthtexas.gov or call 817-392-8803. Y'all have a great day.