 Okay, we're gonna go ahead and get started here. Thank you for your extended patience as we Got ready here Good afternoon Good afternoon and welcome to Worth Heights Community Center here in Southeast Fort Worth District 9 our great council member here and Zeta is here with us today We're welcome you to our community development week celebration As you know this week is National Community Development Week where we celebrate the work of those in community development that make our neighborhoods in our city stronger here My name is Aubrey Thagard. I'm the director of Neighborhood Services for the city of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services Department is charged with overseeing all the programs that deal with housing community development as well as social services here in Fort Worth and Might also add for a portion of Tarrant County so we have the responsibility of helping meet the needs of our Excuse me of our most vulnerable citizens whether they be those who are senior citizens Our young children those living in poverty Individuals who are suffering from chronic illnesses such as HIV and AIDS We're here to help provide the services or the funding for those services so that these individuals can lead a productive life here in this city as I stated before we have a number of Secretaries here today including our council member and Zeta We also have here with us one of our state representatives the Honorable Nicole Collier and We'll be joined shortly by Congress from Mark VC who represents our city as well on Capitol Hill Also want to recognize members of our staff from Labor Services stand up raise your hands. Let them know that you're here today. I Know who you are. So raise your hands Also, I want to thank I Guess we had a committee this year of sorts. So I believe we have Sarah Burkett on our staff Michelle penalty of cloth who was also in the committee who else was on the committee this year I believe it was Chad the Roque And Sharon Berkeley so I want to thank all of you for your hard work in pulling this together today Also, I want to recognize organizations many of whom are our partners who have worked with us over the years we provided funding for these services and We will see that their station set up here that we would like for you to stop by and visit while you're here today as well We want to thank you all for coming today today is One of those days where you kind of go like well, what do you say about this type of event last year this time? We were concerned about the continuing existence of programs as our community development block grant funds and other funds from hood Our funds from housing. I'm sorry from health and human services For instance, we were all worried concerned about us whether or not those funds were going to remain intact Where they're going to get reduced or get eliminated totally We've had that same fear earlier this year But when you have clouds and you have some rain and storms Eventually they give way to sunshine and what has happened so far is good news for us on Capitol Hill here I was hoping that comes from VC would be here by now to hear these these comments because it's obviously a testament to He and other members of Congress and the work they've been doing here When you just let's just from the perspective of the hood funds here and the increases that we saw Back during the last recession the great recession Just as I was getting ready to sing some accolades the congressman walks in here great timing and welcome But Back at the great recession there was a 25 percent reduction in funds from HUD my housing urban development department But the current bill that's out there We're talking about increases that we have not seen in decades where you're talking about for CDBG alone Where it's at three hundred million to three point three billion that's billion with the B dollars home funds that help us to provide affordable housing here in the city 412 million his current funding level, but they're talking about an increase of one point three six billion dollars Hopper our housing opportunities for people with AIDS from 19 million to three hundred and seventy five million Housing assistance. I'm sorry homeless assistance grants an increase in funding from 130 million to 2.5 billion These are substantial increases increases that we have not seen Like I said in decades in terms of the level of funding here And it's all because of the hard work of our legislative team on Capitol Hill in particular firms from Mark VC here So with that, I'm going to step aside because we have the congressman here now And we would love to hear from him about his work on Capitol Hill fighting for us here in Fort Worth though with further ado comes to Mark VC It's great to be with everybody. How's everyone doing today? Good. Good. Well, I just Want to just quickly just talk about the importance of what you're here doing Particularly talking about issues like affordable housing. That is definitely something that I'm always concerned about as many of you know the district that I represent includes Dallas County and Terrent counties and particularly I can tell you I have neighborhoods that are represented Dallas County in particular Where the housing issue has the housing has just gotten very very expensive And it is my hope that we can continue to come up with the programs and continue to work with neighborhoods and communities Particularly on the affordable housing issue. One of my biggest fears is that people that live in cities Will no longer that have grown up in certain neighborhoods and have grown up to know the city will no longer have viable housing options in those areas And I think that as more and more cities tend to grapple with that as new businesses come in And there's job growths like how you go about tackling those issues. I think it's critically important And with so many of the cuts that are taking place Right now in Washington DC throughout many of our departments to where really I mean, we're Or you know well past the year into the administration now and there even some agencies that are not even completely staffed up yet and we know that That some of those things really lead to to certain challenges and there are people out there that really have some very real needs that are out there and so You know, it's my hope that this for the remainder of this year and next year That we really work together to just tackle some of these things and really take a closer look at them And really figure out some sort of way how to shed light to the public on how important some of these programs are too Because when I go out and about it, I'm and I'm in the community a lot of people really don't know I think that if you're directly affected Like for instance, let's say that you're that you're section 8 voucher For instance, if you're directly affected by that and you're in that particular component in housing Is important to you then you you understand the the need and the urgency But for a lot of average everyday people out there a lot of the work that you're here doing today They just really they they don't know they they really don't understand and and how we can go about Talking about some of the services that are being provided here today and how they affect everyone's lives each and every day I think is very crucial. I see that Meals on Wheels is one of the organizations That is represented back there and I know that when we had certain When they were going to lose some of their funding I think people were really sort of shocked by that I think they thought that that was a 100 percent Completely volunteer effort and a 100 percent completely Volunteer Organization and they had no idea that there were like critical funds that were coming from the federal government That quite frankly if it weren't for an organization like Meals on Wheels A lot of those seniors would go then entire day without even speaking to anyone because that's really their only contact with The the outside public And so again, just thank you for letting me have a few moments to speak Really appreciate that very much and glad that everybody has gathered here today to just really spread some good information. Thank you Once again congressman, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon And thank you for your support and leadership on Capitol Hill in Washington here But not only do we have strong leadership and representation on Capitol Hill in Washington We have it at the state Capitol in Austin as well here And one of our best advocates here in Fort Worth is none other than our state representative representative Nicole Collier So I'd like for a representative Collier to come forward Thank you, Aubrey. You know, this is such a great opportunity for us to gather together to recognize the community development block grants It's not easy to get these grants. There's a lot of things that you have to go through You know, you hear about the bureaucratic paperwork and the bureaucratic You know stuff that you have to do and there's a lot of it There's so many factors that go into applying for these community development block grants But it's so worth it because it does so much for our community This is a real partnership these community development grants because not only are you working with housing? But you're also working with law enforcement You're working with the schools and you're doing so much coming together as a partnership to make these grants possible I get so many calls from constituents who talk you call in and I represent a district that's similar to congressman VC and It's an urban district and we get people who call in and say, you know what my roof is leaking I can't get my roof fixed help me. What can I do? So I call Catholic Charities and I'll call Housing solutions and you know what they have the funding to help with that to pay for those roofs to help somebody get the roof If they qualify So not only are they improving areas of blight, but they're also helping the individual homeowner to improve their home So I really appreciate all the work that you're doing to make sure that these things can happen And when we're talking about being able to afford homes this these programs do that they put the home ownership within reach of individuals and I wish my niece could have been here because I was just telling somebody I said I saw this program online. I looked it up and I looked up at the city of Fort Worth And I saw that they were holding this program and I said niece you got to go to this I want you to go to this. I didn't even realize I was gonna be here speaking at this I had already been here to speak but I was telling her she got to go she asked me she goes How do I what is the first step that I need to do to get a home? So many people ask that same question you've got the answers right here right here today You've got the answers you've teamed up with other organizations that has the information to help somebody make a decision About how they can become a homeowner. Everybody wants a piece of that dream Everybody wants to own everybody wants that opportunity to have something of theirs and you are bringing that to them and So because of the work that you're doing I can tell you that Texas is better and House District 95 is better And we're all better because of it. Thank you so much Thank you representative Collier and Let your niece know she can call the neighborhood services department 817 39275 40 And we will put her in touch with the people who can help her get started on her odyssey course becoming a homeowner here As the representative mentioned, you know, we do more than just deal with the housing here We're talking about individuals and the services that they need here when you're talking about transportation for people for seniors to get to Some of our centers such as this one here We also provide opportunities for our youth through various programs girls Inc I think is one of the programs that we funded over the last few years here at one time We were providing child care assistance. So these are the type of programs that have a much broader span of Impact in this community most people realize here what we're doing is providing That needed gap we're standing in that gap for people between abject poverty and Creating an opportunity to get them towards self-sufficiency here So we're very much a part of what the community needs here To my staff who work tirelessly Towards making this a possibility here. They understand the importance of this work here as a matter of fact this month We're going through a process a notice of funding availability and all the organizations that have submitted funding We know that there is more applications than money so staff is taxed with the Responsibility of having to sit through and review applications and ask the probing questions and come back and make the recommendations We have a great community development council made of lay persons who sit in Listen to these various applications and ask the questions that are needed and staff makes recommendations and then What happens every year in June? We come to the council and say council This is what your community is looking for in terms of investment With these type of funds here and one of the people well That's responsible for making that decision and taking those recommendations into consideration as we do every year Is our council member here in district nine and that's Councilmember and Zeta. So if councilmember Zeta will come up give us a few words. That'd be great I am impressed with your ability to stand up and speak off the cuff A few of the things that I've been asked to talk about are specific things that we've done in district nine So I do have a few notes if you'll forgive me And I try to blow them up big enough to not use my readers and I have not succeeded at that at the end of The day typically my eyes have started to fail me in that area But I did want to mention a couple of the organizations that the city has partnered with With the funding that's provided through these community development block grants, which I always Say spelled out like that because when you try to say those initials I mess it up every time So community development block grants and home investment partnership programs have provided some formulas for funding in the city of Fort Worth That has been incredibly successful and some of the public service agencies that we have worked with have been Catholic Charities Housing Channel the latter Alliance Reach Girls Inc. As was mentioned previously We've also done in district nine some affordable housing projects including 250 Lancaster Which is the apartments above the Pinnacle Bank project on Lancaster in downtown Fort Worth Hunter Plaza also located in downtown Fort Worth and Knights of Pythias is also in downtown Fort Worth and in addition We've worked on some individual streets throughout the south side specifically. I am blessed with neighborhoods in the south side Who have passionate volunteers who have availed themselves of the knowledge of this type of funding and have partnered with the city and Really advocated for their own neighborhoods identifying needs in their own neighborhoods Advocating for their own as a group as a neighborhood group and really speaking for a broader Voice in the neighborhood beyond just the individuals and their needs Advocating for those people who need that roof to be fixed But advocating also for streets that need to be repaired for community Resources that need to be available Improvements to parks Caps Park for example in the Southamphill Heights neighborhood has a very passionate group of folks working to Get those funds available that are already available Designated and get those projects can completed and bring those assets to those neighborhoods So this has been a very important part of my work in district nine Representing as as these two these two representatives also a very urban area in the city as improvements come to that area as Reinvestment occurs it is our adamant desire to make sure that citizens who've lived in those areas can continue to live in Those areas and have that cross-section of housing availability so that they can make those choices to live there So that you have a diverse group of people living in an area a diverse group of people from race culture Age people who've lived there for a long time people moving into the area And then young people who want to come back and be able to live in the communities that they were raised in by their families So these are all very important things that we work on to try to make sure that we have those resources available to our communities And that we have strong vibrant communities that are fully engaged and involved So I really appreciate the opportunity to be here today. I know this is a week-long event So hopefully this will be a kickoff that we'll get the word out about people will know which Organizations to reach out to and we can continue to be that partner alongside those individuals and those agencies and the Representatives that are here today, so I appreciate the opportunity as well. Thank you Thank You counselor Mazzetta, and thank you to all of our elected officials here today Before you go though, we wanted to kind of basically show our appreciation to you for all of your hard work and efforts here And we just wanted to give you a little token of that Appreciation so with that I'd like to call first Congressman mark VC I'll read the inscription on the plaque here. It says to Representative mark VC 33rd district of Texas in appreciation special appreciation for your support for national community development week April 2nd 2018 and then we also have the same for our state representative Nicole Collier and Last but certainly not least Our council nine district member And Zeta. Thank you So if you have heard from all of our speakers today We're trying to place successful building blocks in these communities because when you take even your weakest community and make them stronger You're making a stronger for work here And with that we can create the type of city That's an example for other cities across the nation For worth is the 16th largest city in America and in a few years will probably be somewhere around 14th or 13th When it's all said and done and we're a continually large area that's growing roughly at the pace of about 2500 roughly 2500 residents every month With the fastest growing large city with a population over 500,000 in the United States of America So with that comes not only the growth and seeing the numbers, but it also increases the need So programs like this continue to help fulfill those needs of individuals and communities here, whether it's the infrastructure Buildings homes People those are all the things that make strong vibrant communities and by helping the least of those We're doing the most for our city here So with that I want to thank you all for coming out this afternoon We have our various Organizations that are out here Tarrant County Homes Coalition 60 and better AB Christian Center Meals on Wheels The latter Alliance Goodwill, please if you have not had a chance to stop by one of the tables in addition to the city of Fort Worth's tables, please do so and again Thank you for coming out this afternoon and let's continue to work to make Fort Worth the best Managed best city period in the United States. Thank you