 Good morning. It's exciting to be here with everybody on this pretty Monday day for a really exciting announcement. You know, as we continue to grow in Fort Worth and thrive, we're the 15th largest city now and we're getting bigger all the time. We'll be 14th and maybe 13th with the census. But to be able to open the only Envision Center in Texas, HUD only has 17 Envision Centers nationwide. And for us to have the only one in Texas speaks well for Fort Worth and for what we have going here. And it's a great partnership. This is a public private partnership, public public with our friends at HUD. Beth may almost say Mayor Van Dyme. Beth was mayor of Irving before. It's been a great partner for us. And I'm thrilled to see the doors finally getting opening on this. It's a partnership with Fort Worth Housing Solutions with Mary Margaret and her crew. And we're really excited about what it'll bring. HUD's Envision Centers promise the nation that we will help move people out of poverty, not just through financial support. People need more than just financial support. Everyone needs that, but you need the ability to have health and wellness. Access for that is critical. People aren't going anywhere if they can't have their health or at least have access to good health care. Educational attainment. Fort Worth ISD will be here with us at the table to help improve education for those who may have dropped out or those who have their high school degree but want to go on to TCC, UTA, Wesley and one of our schools. How do you accomplish that? It can be daunting to look at. And character development, particularly for our children. Maybe those who haven't had a role model in their life to help shape their character. Learn traits that they can deliver that they will need as they can climb their way out of poverty and into success. I'm really excited about it. What will set this Envision Center apart is the fact that it's located here at the MLK Center in the middle of stop six where we have just invested 2.56 million in our neighborhood revitalization program and are having incredible success with that. It's intended to be a tool to revitalize neighborhoods, to increase the pride, to get people out and engage with their neighbors. When people know their neighbors, they feel safe in their community. Their children are out. We're watching for one another. Children are a lot more likely to be successful in school if they know there's a village behind them that's pushing for that. And I'm thrilled to have that happen here in the stop six area, along with our grant now HUDs and Fort Worth Housing Solutions. We couldn't have done this without the leadership of our own Councilwoman Gina Vivins, who's just been critical for helping us get this done. And I mentioned HUDs regional director Beth Van Dime recently. Beth and I've been friends for nearly 10 years now. She does amazing work for us here in the region and covers a huge part of the nation, touting Fort Worth first and foremost. It's nice to have a friend at the national level. Thank you, Beth. Beth also was responsible this year for helping us secure an additional $1 million for our homeless initiative over and above what we already received. I think you're all going to be really pleased in a year as we look back on the first year of the performance of the Envision Center and where it's gone and the progress that has been made. My hope is that this MLK Envision Center and the folks at Cabell Place who will benefit from the services here will be a role model for the nation and that we will be able to roll out additional Envision Centers in Texas and indeed in Fort Worth. Thank you all for being here. It's my pleasure now to bring your Councilwoman forward to make a few comments. Miss Gina Bivens. Good morning, everybody. I tell you it's going to be a party in here and it is going to be one in here because this is such good news. There are people who may not know this, but I believe in the hand of God in everybody's lives leaving things that we have no idea are coming our way. And when we first hired City Manager David Cook, he wanted a tour of everybody's council district. And so all the other council members took him to real nice places. They took him to probably Clear Far, Renaissance Square, took him to the best that could be seen, but I took him to the neighborhood that I grew up in and where I still live today and that stopped six. We went down Burdell Street where we interrupted a guy smoking crack in his car. And at that point, the City Manager recently told a big audience he didn't know if we were going to get killed or not because I got out the car and asked the guy, what are you doing here? And at that point, the City Manager gets out because he didn't want to have a council member get killed on his watch. And so the guys I got this big and I said, you must not be from here because everybody knows my green truck and they scattered when this happens. If I ever see you again, I'm calling the cops. That led to him creating what we call the stop six neighborhood improvement strategy. And that brought $2.6 million to stop six. That's why you see 7,500 linear feet of new sidewalks in stop six. If you go down Amanda, you'll see new streetlight poles. When I go through stop six, folks tell me what we have. If you watched Channel 8 not long ago, you met a young African American home builder named Carlos Harris who has built 15 homes in stop six. It's the same model home that he builds in Keller. No shortage of quality. And so that's how the attention came to stop six. Then one day I got a call that Secretary Ben Carson was coming to stop six. And I said, really? And so that was pretty cool. And I walked him around Cavill along with his wife and his eyes got fixed on the police substation that I had just recently reopened. It had been closed. That hooked him because he saw that as a vehicle to help reduce crime. And then he came back. He came back within a year. And Mr. Weber said, You never get the HUD secretary in one place this often. And so I said, Yeah, he kind of likes us. And so the next thing we know, you know, we get the Envision Center designation. Then we find out about the Opportunity Zone designation. So there are wonderful things happening here. But don't be mistaken. It's all connected to Cavill. So I want you to think of Cavill as the top of a of a weird triangle. And then in your mind, let it stretch out to go as far south as let's say Berry Street. And then let it swing east and pull in this MLK center. And that's what you see that that's our power triangle. I am so excited. And so I can tell you one thing that will really anchor the plans of jobs for what there's a band the box city. Now, we don't publicize that a lot because I don't want to get folks hopes up too high. But what that means is Fort Worth, when you apply for a job with the city of Fort Worth, you don't see that question. Do you have a criminal record on the application? Now we're not going to hire anybody who's going to steal money. But if you have a record, you at least get a chance to make your case for getting that job because your resume has been so impressive. And we will do background checks. But if someone committed fraud, then more than likely they won't get a job at accounting, we might put them somewhere else. But I'm just proud that my city is, you know, is a band the box city. And so we're on the move in Fort Worth. But more importantly, the 100,000 344 people who live in district five are on the move as well. You will see a rail station at Trinity. And yeah, you'll eventually see a grocery store at Trinity and a 20 as well. So I think that's my five or six minutes. I am done. Who's next? Is it Mary Margaret? That's my best friend. Everybody big applause for Mary Margaret. I gotta say one thing. Mary Margaret invited me to two meetings last week. And that's where the magical news was shared with people. I'm not going to ruin that here. And I did keep a secret. I did keep a secret. So thank you, Mary Margaret. Thank you. Good morning. Over the past year, we have been working so hard with our partners at the city and HUD to ensure that this center right here in stop six is going to provide what our families need to reach their goals for self sufficiency. And that means education, job advancement and self sufficiency goals. Today, we're excited to see all of this collaboration. And I'm so sorry. Allow us to open the doors. And the very first program that we're going to be able to offer is a STEM program for our children. And we know that it's not only the children, but the adults that have goals to get our families out of the cycle of poverty. It's not just housing that prevents our families from getting what they need. It's character, leadership, economic empowerment, health and wellness. And these are all the pillars of an Envision Center. So we could not be more proud to be one of 17 Envision Centers across the nation. And that's one of the reasons that we took the past 11 months to make sure we got it right. Fort Worth is known for our collaboration. So we looked to our partners, both private and public. Thank you so much. It wasn't just HUD or the city. It was the school districts, the colleges, our non-profit partners. And we are so lucky and grateful to live in a city where it's not just how can we help, but it's what can we do. And I can't tell you the phone calls that poured in to my office, whether it was Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, Loretta, she's smiling at me. We had to tell them, wait, we don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm being honest. Before we even had the first press conference, they were asking, how can we be a part of this? It's bigger than us. So we know when Mayor Price said we hope there's more in Texas, we know that there's going to be more in Fort Worth. It's not just going to be in stop six, although Ms. Bivens, we know you want it to be the biggest and best. I shouldn't have brought speaking points. I can just tell you. So this is going to be a center for young and old, everybody, but we want it to be a place, a one-stop shop if you need help to finish a degree, to get a job, to learn where to go to get your family where you want them to be, your vision of success, not by vision, not your next door neighbors, but so you can have a healthy, safe environment to live in Fort Worth, because that's what we want for everyone. And so we're opening the doors today, and it's going to change over time. We know that what is today is not going to be the same as it is next year, but we just couldn't be more proud. And I want you to know that we're calling in vision, and we're really excited about it, but it's something our agency has been doing for the last 80 years. And it's something HUD's been doing for as long as they've been around. So it's gone by a number of names, a number of different programs, but it's at the heart of what we do day in and day out, and it's at the heart of what the city does. And so we're pulling our resources, making it easier for all of our residents to come to one place. And we just, we want everybody to know our doors are open, no matter if you're on one of our programs or not, and we will do our best for you as our neighbors. And just thank you so much for being here. We appreciate you. The last time we were, the last time we were here in this room was to celebrate Fort Worth and specifically this center being one of the first demonstration sites for the Envision Center program across the country. And Mayor Price is absolutely right when she says this is the only one in Texas right now. And there was a reason for that. Early on, you know, I think people look at sizes of cities and they make certain distinctions. And okay, we're gonna be in New York, we're gonna be in LA, we're gonna be in Chicago. But this is Fort Worth. And you all do things a little bit differently. You all do things a little bit better. Some would argue a lot better. And you all have a culture. It's a community here. And one of the things that stood out amongst Fort Worth and your application above all the others was this sense of community. How even in times when we're divisive and we got, you know, national politics at play, elections at play. And by the way, can I be the first this morning to congratulate Mayor Betsy Price and Councilman Bivens on your reelection? These two women have been awesome to work with and they represent your city and they fight. I have never met two stronger women who have fought for what they wanted more. And you are well represented by these women. And whenever we have an issue that's going on in DC where they've got a question, I know there's no hesitation from either one of these two to give me a call. And they both have my cell phone. And they will give me a call when there's a question. So when the idea came out, who are going to be the first cities across the country to be able to work that we're going to be able to work with? And Fort Worth rose to the top. Literally was number one. And I can thank the mayor. I can thank council members. I can thank on the housing solutions. Mary Margaret, you've been a great partner. And you've seen her passion this morning. And this is nothing different. This is not just this morning that she's like that. That kind of passion and enthusiasm and dedication she brings to her job every day. But Fort Worth was picked because of the way you work together. Your focus on what's important and what is not important. It's working on ways to be able to provide mentorships and leadership programs to those that need it the most. Those who actually can see a way out and being able to have somebody's hand to hold on to to be able to pull them out is what's necessary. When we were here almost a year ago and Secretary Carson was here, he used this center and a number of different programs in Fort Worth to talk about best practices and how this is one of the cities that has best practices across the board for what the programs that you've established for veterans homelessness. With the Envision Center, with our partnership that we've got for just general homelessness but also for trying to find affordable housing. All of those issues are important across the country but very specifically Fort Worth, Fort Worth's leadership and advocates get that and they're concentrated on that. At HUD, we want to be a partner. You know Mayor Price said it's HUD's Envision Center. It's not HUD's Envision Center. This is your Envision Center, your Envision Center and your Envision Center and your Envision Center. We are merely a partner here. You know, a lot of times people I think have a different assumption about what HUD does but the fact is we usually provide a check. And in this instance, we're not even providing a check. We're here. We will. Eventually we will. What we're trying to provide is that kind of link. One stop shopping, which as Mary Margaret mentioned, we're already doing but what's the Fed's role in that? You know, we all pay taxes. What's the role? How do you get somebody from SBA, from the Small Business Administration on the line when you need them? How do you get somebody from the Department of Labor? When you're looking for a house or you're looking for affordable housing, how do you get somebody from HUD on the phone? I've been on that 1-800 number where you're on continuously. You may, you know, you go through 12 different menus and I'm seeing some people shake their heads, yep. And it's frustrating. So part of what we're trying to do with these Envision Centers is to provide that cutting out of the bureaucracy, cutting out of that not knowing who to go to when you need something. It's partnering with that positive leadership that sees that getting done to be able to provide a straight line to what you need. And cutting out what you necessarily don't need. So we are really excited to partner with the City of Fort Worth, with your housing solutions, and to be able to work with your cities, to be able to work with your ISD, with your schools, with your community colleges, with your healthcare partners. All of that is necessary. It is a holistic approach to community and well-being. We're even going to be working with your police officers. You know, where we're focused are Envision Centers for the most part are in lower income communities. Just because people make less money doesn't mean they have, they don't have the exact same needs or the exact same wire, the same wants or desires, or the same skill sets. Sometimes you just need a little bit of a hand. And if we can help provide that, that is better for the entire city, for the entire state, for the entire country. So we are very proud to be able to partner with you. We're very proud to be able to provide whatever assistance. And ultimately, we're starting out with 17 Envision Centers. But what we really see is this being an entire network across the country, where you can share best practices, where you can look at what's working in one city, what's working in Fort Worth may not work in Poto, Oklahoma, and the Choctaw Nation. But you know what? Maybe if you're learning marketing, or if you're having skill set training here, somebody from Poto, or Denver, or Detroit, or LA can learn from that. Maybe you're looking for a job and you don't want to move. Maybe there's an opportunity to be able to use a center that's in LA that has a number of job listings, where it's teleworking. And you are able to get a job in Fort Worth, and getting paid from a company in California. That could happen. Especially with what's going on in the taxes in California. That could really happen. We've got a lot going on in Texas. We've got a lot going on in this city, and it is humbling to be able to be here with such great people from the community who get it and who really want to help. So I know that's been 11 months. It's been a long journey. It's been an interesting journey. It's been a productive journey, and I can't wait to celebrate our one-year anniversary next year. So congratulations to the city of Fort Worth. Thank you all for your remarks, and your encouragement, and your excitement. We have been working hard. I told a couple of my counterparts this morning, Gerlinda Banks in particular, I said, you know, you get on my nerves. And it's only because she's pushing, she's pushing, and I'm like, my plate is open, but it's very good to get here to this day. And I wanted to take the time to introduce you to our Envision Coordinator. She holds from Florida, and we're so lucky to have her. She's got local experience, state experience, national experience, and she even said, and she has great excitement to match your excitement. So please welcome Suzanne Richards. She will take on this part of our program and talk about some of her goals and some of the programs we have upcoming. Thank you. Good morning. Again, I am Suzanne Richards, and I'm the new Envision Center Coordinator. And I am here ready to work with you. So I am thrilled. I'm excited at the turnout. And I know there's been a lot of meetings prior to this, plans, ideas. So we are now at the point of bringing pieces of the vision down into reality. And so I want to meet with each and every one of you at some time. And I encourage you, if you haven't already, be sure to sign the sign-in sheet because I will be following up with you. So the time is now. We are ready to get work done. So we see the needs and we are going to meet the needs and get things done together. And the time starts today. And while I was in Florida, I was right next to Walt Disney. Every night I could see the fireworks and see the tourists lost in my neighborhood, you know, they miss Disney, but they get in my house. But one of the things one of the things that Walt Disney said was never give up until you have released your unused capacity for service and shared your gifts with others. One in Kendall's spirit can set hundreds on fire. And I've seen it throughout my work. And that is what we are called upon to do here. There's also, you may have may be familiar with the Shinto clap. Anybody remember familiar? Oh, good. My material is new here. That's great. So, but there's something in Japanese culture where it signifies that you move from one moment in time to another. And that's where we're at right now. So I want you to just repeat after me so we can signify that we are now moving to a time where we are getting things done. So repeat after me. Never give up. Never give up. Until you have released your unused capacity for service and shared your gifts with others. One in Kendall's spirit can set hundreds on fire. And that's right. That's the spirit we need. And on the on the count of three, we're going to move from one moment moment in time to the other to signify that we have opened up the Envision Center here at MLK and we are ready to get things done. So all together on the sound of three, we clap and signify we are we have now opened this Envision Center. One, two, three. Okay. And further proof of getting things done. We have a couple of upcoming things. There's lots of momentum already. And I just want to make sure that you're aware of it so that you can share it with the folks you know so you can come back and join us. This Thursday, May 9th, we have an open house. That's where we're opening the doors to the community. We're opening the doors to faith based leaders. So you may know someone connected to your faith. Invite them to join us on Thursday, May 9th, from five to seven PM right here. And again, on Saturday, we'll have a breakfast from 10 AM to 11 30 AM. Again, you're all invited. And what's interesting about this is that there's going to be a presentation from Leadership Fort Worth. And we have several members here in our audience. They're going to be talking about their needs assessment. What they have found. This is research based. And then we're going to apply not just ideas, but actual research to getting things done here and stop work, particularly around employment and how we can bring together all the resources, information and ideas to actually translate that to action. So here at the Envision Center, we see ourselves as the quarterbacks of coordination. That's what we're doing. There's a lot of information, resources, ideas, funding, people, and we're going to bring them here to get things done. So again, welcome. Thank you everyone for coming out and we will be in touch with you. Oh, one other thing. Let me, how can I forget this? We talked about programming. From June 10th to August 2nd, we will have a program Focus for Youth that focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and math where kids can actually learn about things they may not have ever even thought about. They can figure out how to apply it to developing businesses and so it's exposure to things such as art, fashion, film, TV, technology, e-commerce. So it's going to be led by professionals. So we are going to kick this off here in this community. June 10th, and it runs through August 2nd. You have a flyer, get kids to our doors. Just get them here and we will work with them. So again, thank you everyone. We look forward to working with you here at the Envision Center. So are you excited? Let's do that clap one more time. All right. We would be remiss not to mention something that's happened April 20th. April 20th, my supervisor, Aubrey Thaggart, the Director of Neighborhood Services, passed away very suddenly. Since he's been, had been working with us for three years and from the very beginning, I think Council Member Kelly Allen Gray said it best at his memorial service. She said he came as a bureaucrat and left as a Fort Worthian. And I would say that was so very true and that everything was working so well. All of our different programs in the department and the city, our footprint that we were making. But, so today then, we are continued to be challenged just to move forward. I'm currently serving as the acting director and I've said to our team, I said we are going to have a determined path forward because the work is so important that we do. It's so important. And so if you all will join me for a moment to celebrate and elevate and thank Aubrey for the life he shared with us. Thank you.