 Good morning. We are so excited to have all of you here. This is a phenomenal opportunity for our state, for our community, for this region, but specifically and especially for the city of Fort Worth. We have been working with partners for nearly the last year in trying to determine what is wonderful for this community, what your needs are, how we can all work together because HUD is a partner. All of you are partners in this and the weakest link will really make it fail, but if we all stay together strong we can succeed and we can bring up the people who need it the most. It is an honor to be here today and I would like to introduce Secretary Ben Carson. On March 2nd, Dr. Carson was sworn in as the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For nearly 30 years, Secretary Carson served as Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the John Hopkins Children's Center, a position by the way that he assumed at the age of 33, becoming the youngest major division director in the hospital's history. In 1987, he successfully performed the first separation of the craniopagus twins conjoined at the back of the head. Dr. Carson received dozens of awards and honors in recognition of his achievements, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He is also a recipient of the Spingarn Medal, which is the highest honor bestowed by the National Association for the Advancement of Color People. Dr. Carson has authored nine books of which he co-wrote four with his wife, Candy. The U.S. news media group at Harvard Center for Public Leadership named him among America's best leaders in 2008. Dr. Carson and his wife co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. The fund is currently operated in 50 states in the District of Columbia and has been recognized more than 7,300 scholars, awarded more than $7.3 million in scholarships, and installed more than 150 Ben Carson reading rooms across the country. Born in Detroit to a single mother with a third grade education who worked multiple jobs to support their family, Secretary Carson was raised to love reading and education. He graduated from Yale University and earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, and he and his wife are the proud parents of three adult sons and three grandchildren. Would you please help me welcome to the podium, Secretary Ben Carson? Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Beth Van Dyn, for that wonderful introduction and the tremendous work that you've been doing to help get this thing started. You know, the whole concept of Envision Center actually comes from the Bible. There's a verse in the Bible in the Book of Proverbs that says, without a vision, the people perish. And you know, there are a lot of people in our country who really don't have that vision of success anymore. They think success is for somebody else, and that somebody else is in control of their lives. And what we really want to do with Envision Centers is bring the tremendous resources of this nation and the tremendous compassion that exists in this nation into juxtaposition with the need that exists in this nation. And there are a lot of people in our nation who have grown up in a system that hasn't really emphasized what is available to them. And we also unfortunately have a system that has a lot of people in government assistance, but we punish them when they try to get out of it. When they start climbing the ladder, we pull their support from them. And then everybody else is kind of looking and they say, well, that doesn't make any sense. I'm not going to climb that ladder. These are all the kinds of things that we need to get rid of. And what is happening with these Envision Centers is we're taking federal resources. All 22 federal agencies have joined us combining with state and local resources as well as private sector, nonprofits, faith-based organizations aimed at one thing. And that is to give people the resources that are necessary in order for them to become self-sufficient to succeed and to become part of the American Dream. And we've seen it in different places around the country where you just provide people with an opportunity. And one of the cities, people were given lawn care equipment. They very quickly developed their own lawn care services and became very successful. But the other thing that has happened is that we have a system where people who are receiving assistance, government assistance in housing, if they do something to increase their income, their rent goes up. So there's a disincentive for really doing that. The same thing occurs if you get married. You get married, you bring another income, earn her in, your rent goes up, or you lose your eligibility all together. You know, unless we work on those things in concert, we're not going to be successful. But what has really encouraged me is the number of people, the number of organizations who say, yes, we will help. Yes, we will send people. Yes, we will provide resources. Yes, we want to make sure that our communities thrive. And the reason that these Envision Centers are being created with control at the local level and with financial support at the local level is because personally, I don't want the programs to disappear when a new administration comes along. I want them to be owned and operated by the organization that exists there. And I'm very hopeful that when people begin to see that there are other people throughout the country, throughout their communities who are interested in helping them and working together with them, some of the animosity in our society will begin to subside. I do worry about that because, you know, we're a very powerful country and no one can bring us down from the outside, but we can do it from the inside. If we continue to divide ourselves on the basis of race, income, age, religion, political affiliation, gender, you name it, it won't work. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Never has stood, never will stand. And so, you know, we have to be willing to deal with these things, work with them, think for ourselves, extend that hand of friendship. And I want you to think about just here's an example of how this can work. We have a lot of single moms and, you know, they really are kind of stuck because, you know, they have to take care of their children. Well, one of the federal agencies actually has a program in which they will come in and train elderly people in a multifamily complex on childcare and they become certified childcare specialists. Now that young woman has a safe place for her child to go while she gets her GED, her associates degree, her bachelor's degree becomes independent, more importantly teaches that to her children so that we break these cycles of dependency that have occurred. And I realize that a lot of the things that we're doing, you know, irritate some people who want the status quo. They don't like change and, you know, they want to demonize you. But you know what? As far as I'm concerned, the only person you have to please is God. You have to do what is right. And, you know, we have to concentrate on what are the things that get people out of poverty and that give people hope. You know, and there's a lot of benefit to that because the Envision Centers are based on four principle pillars, economic advancement, educational advancement, health and wellness, and character and leadership development. When it comes to health and wellness, we need to start concentrating on prevention. We need to start concentrating on how do we get people into clinics as opposed to emergency rooms for their primary care which costs five times less than an emergency room and where you get the kind of follow-up care so that you don't end up with so much stage four diseases, particularly with chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension, which frequently go untreated and then create unknown problems, you know, for the patient and for their family members. But also, look at the opioid epidemic that is destroying our country. Why is that? Well, I'll tell you, opioids are not that great at taking care of pain. You talk to somebody who is articulate, who's having a lot of pain. You give them opioids and ask them, how's their pain? And they'll say, it's still there, but I don't care because that's what it does. It makes you not care about it. And the same thing for emotional pain. And see, there are a lot of people with emotional pain who have lost hope and to be able to escape from that just for a few hours, it's very inviting. And once you learn how to do that once, it's very hard to stop doing it. We need to understand that it's very easy for people in our society to get addicted. And let's not look down our noses at them. Let's realize it can happen to anybody. We all have needs. And what we really have to do is start figuring out how do we give people hope again? How do we heal, you know, those deep wounds that have occurred in our society? I believe it is something that we can do. And unfortunately, in our country, you know, we've moved away from a lot of the values and principles that used to hold us together. And we need to start thinking about godly principles of loving your fellow man, of caring about your neighbor, of developing your own talents to the utmost so that you become valuable to the people around you, have the values and principles that govern our lives. Isn't that what it's really all about? And, you know, a lot of people have asked me, you know, how do you go from medicine to government? And I asked myself that too. But no, but, you know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I would spend hours and hours sometimes operating all night to try to save a child, to try to give them a second chance at life. Only a few days later to be faced with the dilemma of in many cases sending them back into an environment that had bed bugs and lice and roaches and rats and mold and lead. And you know that that was not going to work for them, but you had no choice. And now god has provided an opportunity to do something about it. So with your help, with your help, with Envision Center that will be coming here and in surrounding areas, we start concentrating on our young people and on empowering them. What we will then do is we will empower our nation. So thank you all for being here and we'll take questions. Thank you, Dr. Carson. We are so excited that you're back in Fort Worth and we're particularly honored that it's to recognize our community's designation as an Envision Center. As you know, we have amazing leadership in Fort Worth and Fort Worth benefits tremendously from our collaboration and our shared goal to provide affordable housing, improve access to healthy thriving neighborhoods, and to ensure families have the resources they need to achieve their goals in education, self-sufficiency, and job advancement. While so many people have dreams for themselves and families, some just don't know how to get started or what resources are available to help them. And that's where the Envision Center comes in. It will be a catalyst for aligning resources and strengthening partnerships to help families pursue their dreams. Many of you know that this year is our 80th anniversary as a housing authority, so that means we've been providing affordable housing to the Fort Worth community for over 80 years. And today we are going to commemorate that with an oak tree that's been planted out by the playground here. One of many that will be planting all across the city as we open new developments to help our neighbors. And we also know, Dr. Carson, that you're very supportive of HUD's rental assistance demonstration program, RAD, as we like to call it. And we want to thank you for that. Together with the Fort Worth office at HUD, as well as the D.C. office, we are making great progress towards our goal to convert our entire portfolio of public housing to RAD, which allows agencies to convert units of public housing while still providing subsidies for low income families. And here in Fort Worth, RAD conversions are allowing us to achieve our goal to increase the supply of affordable housing and improve access to neighborhoods with great schools and better job opportunities. So we're anxious to get started on our center. We're going to be working closely with our residents, our city, and our many community partners to begin planning. We look forward to coming together to establish a site where neighbors can learn and access tools necessary to accomplish great things and break the cycle of poverty. Thank you for recognizing the work that's already taking place here in Fort Worth and designating us as an Envision Center community. I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Biddens now. Dr. Carson, Mr. Secretary, I would tell you that stop six is definitely ready for your Envision Center. I would dare say we will be more prepared than any of the other locations you've had, and I can prove that. I can prove it. I put some notes together. Mr. Bia, I brought my cheat sheet up here anyway. When I took you and your wife on a tour of Cavill, when you were here before, you were impressed with that police substation that we had just opened. That's collaboration with the Housing Authority, now known as Fort Worth Housing Solutions. When you take a look at the stop six neighborhood that I grew up in, if you go by Dunbar High School, you will see a helicopter affixed to the roof of a hangar built by Bell Helicopter on a deal inked by Board Trustee Christine Moss. Of course, she's supposed to stand. And I see School Board President Toby Jackson here too. I know Toby's in here. When you take a look at what's going on around here, we have more economic investment than ever before. People are building homes again finally in stop six. We had some detriments to development in our zoning, so we changed those, but they still couldn't come back because we had a lot of trash and things that needed to be collected. We actually hauled off 278 tons of brush and debris put in 7,500 linear feet of new sidewalks. People feel safe and we're doing things that make kids know we care about them. We also are installing security cameras and they're helping us make some cases too. We have a new police chief who has reinvigorated our community policing policy. Joe Fitzgerald is in a training right now, but people know who their NPO is now ever more than ever before. He inherited the DOJ's procedural justice project and because it was here before he got here, he hired somebody boots on the ground, Josiah Johnson to lead those community initiatives. Community policing has not been new to us. We have our pastoral leaders, all the pastors and preachers please stand, especially Bishop George. And that's Bishop Sample with him. What these guys have done since I guess the 80s is gone inside schools and help avoid violence. And so we're called MAC, ministers against crime. Thank you, sirs, for being here. All hands are on deck for a number of reading initiatives in stop six in Fort Worth. The mayor is on board. The colleges are on board. But speaking of the colleges and I'm glad to see him, you've heard the term blue collar and white collar. Well, Dr. Giovanni talks about the new collar. Please stand, Dr. Giovanni. Because he's helping us get jobs today and you have to be creative and functional to know that things that you did back then don't work now. I also know that we have health initiatives underway all the time in our community. I see Robert early here. Robert, please stand. Now, Robert is the CEO of our county hospital. Now, both of those men are on the board of my directors of my day job. The next guy is not, but I'm working on him, the president of Texas Wesleyan University. Hi, friend. That puts you on the spot. I know that I'm sorry. No, I'm not. But just know that we are really, we're really eager to make this thing work. We've got what's in place with our collaborators. We've been doing this for years. When segregation ended in Fort Worth, it didn't come because of violence and protests. It came because a phone call was made and it said open up the counters. We've always done things that way. So you will be proud of this. And we'll be pushing for a larger community center here. We're looking for your help. And I think that'll be good. But thank you so very much. And we know our history. Reby Kerry, you've got something to give. Please bring your book, Reby. Reby is 97 years old. Reby, Reby Kerry is a former elected official. He was elected at large on the school board years ago, former state representative and has written about 30 books telling all of our business. And so if you will give him the book. There it is. Uh huh. There you go. Oh good. Give it to him again there. I told Reby he couldn't talk. The magnified apex. Yes. All by Juneteenth. Oh, and today is Juneteenth. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. They're going to take a picture. And I'm gonna close that. And in closing, Dr. Carson, you need to know that you are in the home, the district of where the first freed slaves settled in Texas. It's Mosier Valley. We showed that to Gerald Bennett just recently. Mosier Valley descendants are in here. Wave your hands and I'm gonna sit down before they pull the hook out. I see you Benny. I see Danny. So welcome and thank you. Thank you, Dr. Carson, for being here. Wonderful groups that we've seen have a lot of struggles with fair housing. And that's those individuals who have been critically incarcerated. And with the fair housing, uh, leading to more fair housing, they're picking and choosing, uh, these sites, the department for these government. How does the business center get those individuals? I know that came out of that. But how does this in business and I kept them, uh, come back into the community and also find that available housing without being frustrated? Sure. What's going on in the market? Well, first of all, thank you. Thank you for asking that question and being concerned about that particular issue because, you know, as a nation, we have 5% of the world's population of 25% of the prison inmates. And, uh, they go into prison, uh, particularly a lot of our young men with no skills and, uh, you know, no education. They come out with no skills and no education. So what do they do? They go back and do the same thing. That's why we have these high recidivism rates. And, uh, one of the programs through the Envision Centers actually going into the prisons before they come out, uh, establishing the relationships beginning to do some of the training, working with employers, uh, because it's, it's not just going to be Section 3. Uh, it's going to be Job Corps. It's going to be a whole bunch of potential trainers and employers that we're working with recognizing that that's how we change the trajectory for these, uh, for these individuals and also looking at some of the, the, the former rules and regulations against, uh, having people who've been incarcerated, uh, so that we need to recognize that, you know, I don't want, I don't want to make excuses for people. But, you know, a lot of times we have young men who are growing up in a household. There's no father there. There's no father figure. There's no role model. Um, their mother, in many cases, is the teenager herself, you know, and you have all kinds of negative influences out there. That's another area where the Envision Centers come in, providing mentorship. Many studies have shown that young people who are disadvantaged, who have mentors, finish high school at a much greater rate than those who do not. And when we're talking about poverty in general, uh, the Brookings Institute probably did the best study on poverty there is. And they concluded that there were three factors that would reduce the risk of living in poverty to 2% or less. Number one, finish high school. Number two, get married. Number three, wait until you're married to have children. You do those three things, less than 2% chance of living in poverty. So, so what does that tell us? It tells us that, that we need to be looking at ways to increase educational opportunities, to encourage that, to increase family formation, and, and to increase responsibility. And those are the kinds of things that we're going to be aiming at doing. One more question? Right here? Yeah, I wanted to confuse you, Senator, but allow more people to convert the income that they used for subsidized housing to convert that to home ownership, and, and, and to for it not a token, but an active program that would actually put more persons on subsidized housing into actually home ownership. Yes. Thank you for asking that question. That's such an important factor. The average net worth of a renter is $5,000. The average net worth of a homeowner is $200,000. That's a 40-fold difference. So we need to be looking at ways to get people into home, but it has to be done in a responsible way. The way it was done before with subprimes and, and, and all kinds of shagant, shenanigans actually cost people homes, particularly in the African-American community. We have fewer African-American homeowners than we did before the housing crisis. Because if you put somebody in a home they can't afford, not only do they lose the home, they lose their credit and they lose their future opportunities. So we have to be creative in the way we're doing things. One of the things we're working on is a program where you take part of the monthly subsidy, if you're getting government assistance, it goes into an escrow. That escrow is used to take care of the routine maintenance of that unit. So if there's a lot of routine maintenance, the screens always have holes poking at them, the lights always have to be changed, you're always calling the plumber, that escrow is not going to grow much. But what happens if you start thinking like a homeowner and you start taking care of those things, you lift the lid in that toilet, you say, oh, that little thing's bent, I'm going to fix it myself, believe me, that escrow continues to grow. And then if you leave assistance and prescribe number of years, you get all that money for a down payment. Because see, that's the big hurdle. There are a lot of people who work hard, and they're able to keep their head above water, but they'd never be able to accumulate that down payment. If that's provided, they continue to work, things really begin to happen in a very positive way for them. Those are the kinds of initiatives that we're working on right now. We're really looking at this thing in a very holistic manner, because the real goal here is to empower people. Think about what happens. For every person that we get out of dependency, that's one more person we don't have to pay for, and one more person who becomes a contributing member of society who may discover a new energy source or the cure for cancer. We can't afford to throw any of our people away. Thank you so much. One person who is missing in body but is here in spirit today is the mayor of Fort Worth, Betsy Price. She has fought for this center. She has established a phenomenal relationship with HUD, but specifically with Secretary Ben Carson. In fact, when the application for this center came up, she personally handed her commitment letter to the secretary. I want to make sure that we recognize all of the work that this mayor and this council have done to get this center here today. The city of Fort Worth has been wonderful. They've helped put this whole thing on. I want to thank all of you for coming. I know that we have a round table, and if you had had an invitation to the round table, it's going to be in the room behind us. At this point in time, I don't think we have any more questions. So thank you all for coming, and we'll see you soon. Congratulations.