 In August 2021, the City of Fort Worth will begin redistricting in order to form 10 new City Council districts. These new districts will be in place for the May 2023 election. In 2016, Fort Worth voters approved an amendment to the City Charter to increase the number of City Council members from 9 to 11, following the completion of the 2020 census. This includes 10 District Council members and the Mayor who represents the entire city. The Task Force on Race and Culture in December 2018 recommended the goal of ensuring that the City Council reflect the diverse communities that it represents. In order to create guidelines and procedures for their redistricting effort, in August 2020, the City Council appointed an 11-member redistricting task force to provide advice about the criteria and procedures by which Council should redraw its district boundaries. The task force is led by Lorraine Miller. She brings to the task a breath of government experience. She serves as the first African-American clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and the first African-American to also serve as an officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. In her tenure in the public service, Miller has served in a number of positions in both the legislative and executive branches. During the Clinton administration, Miller served as a deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs. In the late 1990s, she transitioned to her role as bureau chief of consumer information for the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to her service in the FCC, she served as director of government relations for the Federal Trade Commission. The Fort Worth community is fortunate to have her serve as chair for the task force. Other task force members include Salvador Espinó, representing District 2, Graham Norris, representing District 3, Craig Allen, representing District 4, Bert Williams, representing District 5, Linda Kennedy, representing District 6, Tony DeVito, representing District 7, Tracy Scott, representing District 8, Kent Bradshaw, representing District 9, and Bill Schur and Teresa Yala appointed by Mayor Price. In August 2020, the city council charged the task force with evaluating the criteria and procedures by which the city council has redrawn council district boundaries in the past and accordingly advising the city council about redistricting criteria and procedures that the city council should use in the future. In December 2020, the task force presented an interim report on the findings to the city council. Ten key criteria were in the report. These include approximately equal size. The goal is to make all council districts approximately the same size. The task force recommended that the population of the largest district be less than or equal to 10% more than the population of the smallest district. Compliance with the U.S. Constitution, Voting Rights Act, Texas Constitution, and other applicable laws. There are many laws and guidelines already in place for federal, state, and local redistricting efforts. Some of these include no packing of minority voters, no fragmentation of minority communities, and no retrogression in the ability of minorities to participate in the electoral process. Although retrogression is no longer legally mandated, the task force would like to prohibit retrogression. Retrogression is the reduction in voting strength of a racial or ethnic minority based on a redistricting plan. The task force reaffirmed the need to comply with the laws that are already in place surrounding this important topic. Create minority opportunity districts and compliance with federal law to further reflect growing diversity of the city. The city values the contributions of our minority communities and the task force wants to ensure that redistricting efforts will create minority opportunity districts. Contain communities of interest in single districts with communities of interest defined as a local population with shared social economic characteristics and political institutions that would benefit from a unified representation. Contiguous territory for each district. The task force felt it was important for each district to be connected geographically so that residents live close to other members of their district. Compact districts. Just as the task force believed that the district should be connected geographically, they also believed the district should be as compact as possible. Identifiable geographic boundaries. When possible, the task force recommended that identifiable geographic boundaries be used to determine the district limits. This can include both natural and man-made. Contain whole voting precincts. In order to make it easier for elections, the task force recommended that whole voting precincts be kept intact within the new council districts. Contain whole census blocks or block groups. Likewise, the district should include whole census blocks and block groups whenever possible. Do not consider place of residence or incumbents or potential candidates. In order to make the process as impartial as possible, the task force did not recommend that the current place of residence for current council members should be included in the criteria. During the redistricting process, the public will be invited to provide input and also propose redistricting maps. A mapping software will be made available to the public so they can participate in the process. Training will also be provided so that residents can understand the mapping software. The task force also emphasized the need for transparency in redistricting process by potentially requiring map drawing to occur at public meetings with computer screens visible to all parties. All information will also be available online and in other locations that are easily accessible to the public. After the public hearings taking place in January 2021, these activities will take place for the redistricting task force. February 4th, the task force will discuss comments from the public hearings and reach an agreement on final recommendations. March 2nd, the task force will present its final report to the city council. March 16th, the city council will adopt a resolution accepting the final report. July 2021, the census bureau will release the data from the 2020 census. August through December 2021, city council will conduct redistricting process. May 2023, city conducts a 2023 election with two new districts. All meetings are open to the public and available for viewing through Fort Worth TV, FortWorthTexas.gov livestream, and the city's video library online. For more information on redistricting efforts in Fort Worth, visit fortworthtexas.gov slash redistricting. Comments and questions can be submitted to fwconnection at fortworthtexas.gov.