 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. Now 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 think for me the most meaningful part is listening to the community, listening to the pluses and minuses because people talked about the great things that are happening here in Fort Worth, but also some things that we needed to improve on, and listening from their perspective. I think it's very important because as leaders, whatever you do, you need to listen to the community so that you can find out how to really fix the issues at hand, because if not, all we're going to do is put a band-aid on an issue and we're going to be talking about this in the next 10 years. 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 to 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. Fort Worth City Council has asked the Task Force to develop a racial equity plan with recommendations for improving race relations and racial equity in our community. Now that the committees have presented their draft recommendations, it is time for the public to let them know if they got it right. And now that we're coming to our final draft, and I have to emphasize draft recommendations, we're going back out to the community as well. Our final recommendations will be based upon what the community tells us out of them is the most important. We're not dictating to the community. We're partnering with the community. The City of Fort Worth took a look at itself, reexamined itself. It 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. To view the draft recommendations and find a list of community meetings, visit onefortworth.org. You can also email your comments to onefortworth at gmail.com.