 In December 2016, Fort Worth gained national attention—not for our world-class museums, historic stockyards, or unprecedented economic growth, but because of a video involving a resident, her daughters, and a Fort Worth police officer. In the days and months following the video, there were public outcries and calls for change. The Fort Worth City Council heard the many voices in our community, and in August 2017, they appointed the Race and Culture Task Force. I don't want this to just be a study group. I want this to be a group that takes the data, takes what they're hearing, and comes back with recommendations of how we can actually take action, how we can better understand each other, and how we can move the needle forward for all citizens. City Council selected four co-chairs. These chairs then chose 19 other residents to join the task force. I've lived here all my life, and I've seen the transition of our communities, whether it's the north, south, east, or west, transition from, you know, Pauley, Anglo-community turned African-American, now it's turning Hispanic. We have to learn how to embrace those cultures. Well, I must admit that when I was first asked to be a part of the task force, I was hesitant because I wasn't sure how serious the mayor and the city manager were in appointing this task force. I didn't want it to be just for show. I didn't want it to be a delaying tactic. I didn't want it to be something that they could say that we did something, but we won't do anything after that. So I was hesitant until I got assurance from the mayor and the city manager that this was for real, and they really wanted answers. They wanted us to talk about disparities, find those disparities, and then try to come up with some solutions that the City Council could implement. At its first meeting, the task force chose the name One Fort Worth and adopted a mission statement to listen, learn, build, and bridge in order to create an inclusive Fort Worth for all residents. I think it's important to our community because our community needs to be whole. We live in a time today which is very fractured by politics, by religion, by beliefs, by location, by neighborhood, right, on what side of the tracks do you live? And I think that this task force work is to put those boundaries away, to erase them. There's another saying that says that the whole world is a narrow bridge, right? I think the task force calling its job is to make sure that that bridge is open so everyone can walk across to any side that they want. Over the past year, the task force has been listening to residents and learning from them. They held two large town hall meetings, hosted community conversations with 17 different civic organizations, and listened to or read comments and ideas from more than 1200 residents. They have also attended and hosted more than 50 community meetings and trainings. I needed to be a part of listening and learning from the community. As a minority, sure, I know that disparities exist, but not to the degree that I heard in some of the meetings I attended. So to learn, to listen, to try and dial in and feel the emotion and show empathy for people who are hurting was really important to me, and that's been the biggest revelation for me. I had no idea to what extent people were hurting throughout the community. The task force also looked at data and information that identified disparities in our community and further defined the issues residents were concerned about. Based on all the input, the task force formed seven committees to look into the areas that residents said were most important. Criminal justice, economic development, education, governance, health, housing, and transportation. The Fort Worth City Council asked the task force to develop a racial equity plan with recommendations for improving race relations and racial equity in our community. Based on the data and the community input, the committees developed a plan and presented it to the City Council. The Council officially accepted the plan in January 2019. Staff is now reviewing the recommendations to develop a work plan for implementation. The City of Fort Worth took a look at itself, reexamined itself, and decided to make a change for the better, not for some of its citizens, but for all of its residents. My hope is that at the end of all of this, we'll know more about each other and that we'll empathize more with each other and we'll come up with some solutions. See, the greatest opportunity is to be a part of the solution.