 Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us at our event this morning. I hope everybody had a good time this morning and learned some valuable information. My name is Michelle Goode and I'm the communications and public engagement director for the city of Fort Worth and I'd like to welcome you to the 16th annual Fort Worth neighborhood awards a Big thank you to doxology church for hosting us today in this wonderful facility I'd like to invite lead pastor Chris Freeland to give the invocation and Then after the invocation if you could continue eating he's going to share his thoughts on the art of neighboring Would you join me in prayer, please? Father what incredible privilege it is to gather together as people from different backgrounds with different stories different histories different perspectives all to gather together because we love this city and we love the people in it and As we continue to talk about how we can be better at that and listen to how we can be better at that Lord I pray that some of the very best ideas in this city Would be things that are born out of the conversations that we have today and the people that are gathered together in this room We want to be the kind of city that's different for all the right reasons And so Lord with all of the struggles with all of the challenges with all of the friction with all of the Hard things in our culture Lord. We pray that this would be the kind of city that stands apart It's a city that genuinely is known by people who love each other well And we ask Lord that you would allow steps to be taken towards that today Thanks for this food and the people who have provided it. We are grateful for all of this in Christ's name. Amen You know people keep telling us thank you for hosting this event And I just need to make sure you're aware some of you I know are familiar faces some of you are not I feel like I need to be the one telling you thank you Because this event and all of you gathered together today is a really specific answer to some really specific prayers that we've prayed Together as a church both in the past and presently we continue to pray We want to be just the kind of people that if there are needs within our city that we're the kind of people that people would call In order to lean towards those needs and so to have people like you who are also Thinking those thoughts gathered together to have those conversations This is a really really big deal that we are grateful for to be able to host you So thank you guys for being here and for all the incredible things you do to make Fort Worth a really great place to live We're grateful to be able to host you The team that's putting this together asked me to just spend a couple of minutes and anytime you give the microphone to a Preacher and ask him for a couple of minutes You kind of got to hold your breath don't you but I'm gonna I'm gonna stick to that just a few minutes To tell you some of the thoughts that we've been thinking and when it comes to the art of neighboring and just really briefly I would tell you I believe you would be really really really hard-pressed to find Any of our cultural ills or societal ills or the things that keep some of us awake at night that couldn't be solved If all of us would take Jesus words love your neighbor as yourself seriously and Personally and here we believe even Literally to literally love the people who fall asleep 40 feet from your head like we love ourself And so around here that started we started praying for that a long long time ago but we decided we were gonna start trying to take some specific steps towards that because It's hard to just go from zero to 100 miles an hour in one step So we just wanted to take some specific steps towards it. And so really early on we just Decided it's awfully hard to love people if you don't know their name So we started to challenge every single person who's a part of this congregation at least To just take a tic-tac-toe grid and put your house in the middle and we ask our congregation one sunny morning Hey, who can name all of the houses that surround your house or all of the names of the people that live in the apartment Complex is surrounding your complex. So actually you guys are the rock stars of neighboring I'm interested in how many of you how many of you could name every person that lives in the house across the street for you Or just in front of you all three houses each house on either side of your house and all of the houses behind you The three houses behind you how many of us could name every single name of every single person in that incredible now? Listen, here's what we tell our congregation because I know that laugh that nervous laugh the preacher knows That's a shameful laugh, okay This is a grace place We don't we don't do the shame thing here at doxology Bible church And so what we always tell people is hey if you weren't able to raise your hand You know what your next step is and we just gave that to everybody who's a part of our congregation If you don't know all eight of those names and all eight of those households You've got something you can do this week You got a step and every single person can take that step and so we would come back again and ask the question again How many people can name all eight of the houses next to you at every single time? We would do it more and more people would be able to raise their hand and we would begin to celebrate that We just wanted to give people a step that they could take towards loving their neighbor And then after they begin to know all of the names of the people around and we gave them some more steps And here we use the acronym we want to be people that bless our neighbor now This is a church thing so we begin with prayer that's bless be in bless is beginning with prayer We pray it it's hard to love people if you believe in a God who answers pray if you're not willing to pray for the people around So we just ask that God would bless the people that live all around us in our in our neighborhoods Then we want to listen. That's the L in in bless. We want to listen. We want to listen to their stories We want to listen to their hurts. We want to listen to their struggles We want to listen to their problems We want to listen for the things that they're saying that they're not really saying and we want to be people That are great listeners then we want to eat with people then we want to serve people Then we want to share stories with each other Because we believe if we can be people that bless the people that live on either side of us We can be the kind of people that are loving our neighbors Like we love ourselves and some really really extraordinary things have happened in our neighborhoods as a result of that And I'll just give you a couple We had people that started to get really creative about how they could eat with each other and how they could listen to each Other and they started to notice, you know about once a month We have one of those random holidays that nobody knows about nobody really celebrates nobody has plans But everybody knows it's groundhogs day. That was our most recent one, right? And so they just decided, you know, everybody knows it's groundhog day. Nobody's doing anything on groundhog day What if we did something for our neighbors on groundhog day, and we just cooked a pot of soup told everybody we're gonna celebrate Come over and and grab some soup on your way home from work And they had dozens of neighbors that just stopped buying they ate together. They listened to each other They met each other for the very first time and began to take steps towards loving each other people that were they were really different from Do the same thing on St. Patrick's Day. I mean, there's one every single month April Fool's Day What a great day to get everybody together for a meal, right? Especially some of the people that live next to you You know what I'm talking about, right? So we just decided that we would take some steps towards it We had another one on Veterans Day that I thought was incredible We had a lady that just decided you know what nobody ever celebrates Veterans Day and we're gonna celebrate Veterans Day And so she went door-to-door and just said hey are you or do you know anybody in our neighborhood who's a veteran? And she made these really incredible Signs just to honor the the person that had served in our in our armed forces when they served where they served and And what they did in the military they made these signs and they had over everybody over to their house for a barbecue There was a guy that had lived in the neighborhood for decades But had never been a part of anything in the neighborhood didn't answer his door when she knocked on the door But somebody else who had lived in the neighborhood a lot longer than him knew who he was and knew his story And he just happened to notice that there was a Veterans Day party that was going on in their neighborhood He came out of his house walked across the street nobody else had ever seen him outside He walks across the street and he sees his name and his rank and the theater that he served in in World War two Listed on a sign right there. He started to sob. He thought I didn't know that anybody else knew I didn't know that anybody else cared and now they're on a first-name basis every time he goes out to get his mail Incredible incredible things that happened just from people taken some really small steps one other guy moved into a cul-de-sac He was a racial minority on that cul-de-sac. He's a racial majority Otherwise, but he walked and moved into this cul-de-sac and he started to look around and realize that everybody in the cul-de-sac What when the World Cup was going on? They were all having parties and people over to their house because they were all cheering for the same team And so we just decided you know, what do we have in common? I don't I'm not cheering for that team I really don't understand a whole lot about that, but I bet we could start an indoor soccer team with our neighborhood So we just went knocking knocking on the doors and he said hey Would you guys be interested in playing indoor soccer with us? They started a team every single week They play together and then they come back and they tailgate in their driveway after their games after their kids are all in Bed they're having an incredible time when needs come up. They've walked through cancer together They've walked through the death of a child together. They've walked through Losses of jobs together. They're meeting each other's need and it all started with watching soccer and playing on an indoor soccer team There are no end to the kind of connections that can be made if people just decided to take it seriously and Love their neighbor and so that's the journey that our church is on We're trying to make sure that in every single neighborhood in Southwest Fort Worth There's a group of people who were actively loving their neighbor and We love ourselves. So does somebody and this is doxology It comes from two words doxa and Lagos mean doxa is glory how God shows who he is and what he's like Lagos means word how God declares who he is and what he's like We want to be the kind of people that show and say who God is and what he's like Wherever they go starting with the people who fall asleep 40 feet from our head Now we're not perfect at this and it's messy. I mean, you know this I'm preaching to the choir, right? It's messy. It's hard. We haven't got it all figured out But we believe that we're playing a long game just like you do and in our faith tradition You don't have to believe this but we absolutely believe this That love paid the ultimate sacrifice with eternity in mind So if we want to be people that look like him and sound like him wherever we go We can afford to make the sacrifice in route to loving actual people who are actual neighbors As a part of making this one of the most extraordinary cities on the planet. That's our heart I know that's your heart and that's why are we are so so grateful that you guys are here What a privilege it is to be together with you. Thanks for being in our building. We're glad you guys are here Thank You pastor Freeland We have several elected officials joining us today. Will you please stand when I call out your name? Tarrant County Judge Glenn Whitley Is he still here? I know he was here this morning He might not have stayed for the lunch a mayor Betsy Price who you'll hear from in a few minutes City Council members Carlos Flores Brian Bird Carrie Moon, I don't think he I don't think he's here. I haven't seen him today is his birthday by the way so Gina Bivens I Don't think she is here either Junkist Jordan Dennis shingleton Kelly Ellen Gray and and Zeta Thank you for all you do for our city We also have many city staff members here today I'm too many to name but would all of you stand if you are a city of Fort Worth employee We do have our city manager here David Cook. Thank you Now I'd like to recognize the group that pulled this event together today and the community engagement team The mission of the community engagement office is to connect you with city services and each other in order to build a strong community Our team members work year-round with your neighborhoods schools after school programs Civic and faith-based groups providing information presentations and training I want to thank them for working really hard on today's workshops exhibits and awards luncheon It takes a lot of work to pull this event together and I appreciate all of their work If they would please stand when I call their name Ruth Barajas Tabitha Butler Barry Cram Tracy Edwards Madeline Gibbs Dot Kent Brenda Pinner and They're their manager Catherine Huckabee I'm sure all of you have already worked with them But I encourage you to to reach out with them and be engaged with them as much as you can in order to help your neighborhoods The city of Fort Worth has been giving neighborhood awards to recognize the projects and activities For many years this helps make Fort Worth a great place to live work and play Today we will be recognizing our outstanding news neighborhood newsletters We'll also hand out awards in each of these categories So mandatory homeowners associations or HOA's will compete against each other Voluntary name voluntary neighborhood associations will compete against their peers And we will also give out four individual awards today including a new award recognizing the neighbor of the year and Finally, we will name Fort Worth neighborhood of the year The winners today were selected by a panel of judges from other area Municipalities who reviewed all of the nominations and chose the winners and we went to thank them for their time It was a very time-consuming task because we had so many nominations Our first awards recognized excellence in communications, which is critical to bringing neighbors together Newsletters are judged on content and appearance as well as how well they reach their intended audience as I announced your names Would the editor or an officer? Please come forward to receive their award and mayor price. Would you join me on the stage for pictures? We will take a group photo once we have all of the recipients up here And I would ask that when people come up to get their awards when you're going back down to your table to be careful because there's a little bit of a Uneven edge on the stairs and we don't want anyone to fall So with these Organizations, please come up Crawford Farms HOA heritage HOA Marine Creek Community Association Marine Creek Meadows HOA and Quail Ridge Estates Phase 2 HOA While they're having their picture taken I'll tell you a little bit more these HOA's produce anywhere between two and twelve newsletters each year Many also send weekly email updates costs are covered by HOA dues and often supplemented by the sale of ads Highlights includes news you can use such as city bulk trash pickup dates Explanations of dues and how they are spent and lots of resident photos Thank you. Let's have a round of applause In the voluntary association category our newsletter awards go to Crestwood Association Eastern Hills Mistletoe Heights and Ridgely North Would representatives from those neighborhoods come up to receive their awards Most of these neighborhoods post electronic newsletters on their website or email them directly to members Some still deliver printed copies either by mail or by block captains They also sell ads to help offset printing and postage costs If you'd like to see samples of these award-winning newsletters Please contact the associations directly or you can call the community engagement office The Fort Worth pride award is given to an organization that improves the physical aspects of the neighborhood Winners in this category may have completed beautification projects community cleanups Park or garden projects or worked with the city's code compliance or other departments to make their neighbor neighborhood cleaner and more attractive Will the HOA finalists, please stand at your table as I read your names Marine Creek Meadows HOA for its landscaping and grounds improvement program An annual tree planting program that started three years ago was expanded in 2018 to include the addition of pet Waste stations along a walking trail fence improvements Rodiron benches near a fountain in play area Volunteer hours extended the budget and helped create a sense of community and the trails of fossil Creek HOA They were recognized for their multifaceted beautification program What started as a creek cleanup project grew to include tree plantings in a park the addition of pet Waste stations trash and recycling cans and a community Earth Day celebration and The winner is the trails of fossil Creek HOA Would councilmember shingleton, please come up and join them While they're coming to the stage to get their picture taken and receive their award I'm going to tell you a little bit more about their projects The original objective was to improve the appearance of a creek running through the trails of fossil Creek Park Where hile where high cattails and trash had accumulated, but the plan grew into a full-fledged beautification project Association leadership applied to the city forestry division tree grant program and received 45 trees to plant in the park They purchased three dog waste Stations and worked with the city to install them in the park as well as add trash cans and repair broken sidewalks Then the association planned and hosted an earth day celebration The fun event attracted neighbors who joined with Girl Scouts to clean the creek as part of keep Fort Worth Beautiful's cow town cleanup now the association is looking at officially adopting the park and Requesting more trees to reforest phase phase to congratulations to the trails of fossil Creek In the voluntary association category the judges chose to recognize just one neighborhood for the Fort Worth pride award The winner is Tanglewood neighborhood association Please come forward to receive your award and would councilmember bird come up for the pictures While they're coming up. I'd like to tell everyone about the Tanglewood tree planting project Tanglewood is known for its trees and some of them are more than 200 years old They provide shade and beauty to the neighborhood, but in March 2017 a strong storm ripped off giant limbs and uprooted Entire trees throughout the neighborhood in an email survey the association learned that more than 85 percent of residents Had lost one or more trees in the last 10 years So they set out to replant The association negotiated purchase discounts from a local nursery And they also took advantage of this city's free five gallon tree program And this allowed neighbors of all incomes to participate in the project The tree planting project was publicized with yard signs a tree float in the 4th of July parade Infotables at association meetings and social events and even a tree costume contest at the annual Halloween block party In all Tanglewood neighbors planted a total of 120 new trees last fall Another big bonus the project attracted numerous volunteers who had never participated in any association activities before congratulations to Tanglewood Our next award is the spirit of Fort Worth award. It is given to associations foster social revitalization enhanced cultural aspects of the neighborhood or just simply make residents feel welcome and can Clean plane or celebrating together While the eight will the HOA finalists, please stand at your table as I read your names Harvest Ridge HOA They're recognized for a community social event that also collected school supplies for children in North Fort Worth a Neighbors social media post was the catalyst for a cookout that resulted in more than a hundred school supply kits for needy families and quail Ridge estates phase two For its food truck socials The idea was to try something new to encourage residents to get to know and watch out for each other And the winner is the quail Ridge estates phase two and Councilmember Jordan is coming up to join them a little bit more about their project the HOA's first food truck He coincided with a neighborhood wide garage sale in the spring The idea was to get neighbors to hang around after the sale and get to know each other over a meal before heading home Feedback was positive. So they scheduled a second food truck event in the fall That event also resulted in longtime residents meeting new neighbors and some visited with each other for hours After both events the HOA reports increased community engagement, which has translated into more suggestions For neighborhood activities and a greater understanding of official board decisions Congratulations to quail Ridge estates phase two For our voluntary association spirit of Fort Worth finalists, please stand as I read your names the Garden of Eden Neighborhood Association This is for its letter writing project to new military enlistees from the community as The association members gathered for their annual national night out event They wrote letters and placed them in care packages Which were later mailed to new recruits who were serving serving far from home and the Ridgley Hills Neighborhood Association for For organizing its first ever Fourth of July parade to honor local veterans months of planning included creating a parade route to getting a Permit recruiting business sponsors and lining up volunteers for traffic control and the winner is Ridgley Hills Neighborhood Association Councilmember bird can come up again While they're coming up. I will tell you a little bit more about their project Ridgley Hills residents wanted to start an annual Independence Day parade to honor veterans and involve the whole community They formed a planning committee that included volunteers their NPO a Constable and local business person who lived in the neighborhood After mapping a parade route and getting a permit The committee came up with sponsorship Opportunities to raise money and offset costs Neighborhood children took messages door-to-door To make sure veterans and older residents who aren't on social media were invited Nearby rules and nonprofits were invited to enter a float in the parade at no charge to recognize their organizations a Boy Scout troop put out flags along the parade route and high school ROTC color guard led the parade The association gave awards for parade entries that organizations and businesses can play all year Then passed down to next year's winners Congratulations Ridgley Hills for your spirit of Fort Worth and now I'd like to ask Mayor Price to present the next awards Good afternoon Does everybody have I had to stop and think what time of day it was? Is everybody having fun? Are you ready for a seventh inning stretch here? You know might have the pleasure today of presenting several awards But this one is particularly dear to me because this is our community health award and since Fort Worth became the largest City in the world to be blue zone certified in 2018 That's a huge achievement You may I'll give you just a statistic So you'll understand the impact of that when we started the project five and a half years ago And the Gallup well-being of the top hundred and ninety cities Fort Worth was ranked number 185 This year when we were certified we were ranked 58th healthiest in five years. That's a huge change This award is health and wellness award and it goes to the neighborhood That's had a significant effort to promote exercise better health Safety recreation and engagement that leads to a better quality of life for everyone in our city the judges named three finalists and When I call you would you please stand at your table with the names the Como Neighborhood Advisory Council for your health and wellness partnership They organized a 10-week MOE I if you don't know what a MOE I is it's an engagement Walking visiting to keep your neighbors accountable to get to know them and put on a fall festival Hosted garden days service projects all aimed in encouraging people to get out Get engaged and get more physical activity and healthier eating in their daily routine The pursuit of purpose was the other part of theirs Eastgate neighborhood Stan Eastgate put in an amazing community garden. It not only feeds their hungry neighbors with fresh produce But they partnered with the YMCA in their area to teach families and children and provide a learning space for Fort Worth ISD students far too often when you go to visit with particularly with children They have no clue where fresh fruits and vegetables come from or how to Fix them and make them edible. So thank you for setting that example Eastgate and The third finalist is the Fairmont Neighborhood Association Would you all stand? There they are They sponsored a 1k and 5k and one mile run in their neighborhood an inaugural event That wound through Magnolia Avenue and through Ryan Place in Fairmont They had some 400 runners participate in their first event and raised $5,000 that they donate back to children's charities for health. Thank you drum roll The winner is there you go Eastgate neighborhood If you would join us on stage councilmember shingleton While they're coming up and they're posing for pictures. I'll tell you a little bit more about their project Eastgate built its first community garden several years ago But had to abandon it when the property was no longer available They began searching for a new location and partnered with the YMCA Camp Carter Who was looking to start a youth learning garden during a community work day dozens of volunteers? Rebuild and replanted the beds and soon vegetables began sprouting. There was just one problem a herd of deer found to the garden and And proceeded to devour every leaf the neighbors were devastated but only temporarily The Y got grant funds for fencing and Eastgate volunteers helped install it Veggies were growing again and the new fence kept the deer out The garden's open gate policy allows the visitors to take fresh food when they need it and do chores If they're able and the Y uses the garden to teach hundreds of children where their food comes from Congratulations to the Eastgate neighbors Okay, the next award Congratulations to Eastgate is all about partnerships and making it happen Oh in a way to make something big happen in your neighborhoods civic engagement and community Collaboration award honors significant innovative creative Initiatives that often pick a challenge and to find it it recognizes an association that worked with city staff elected officials schools businesses and Any other civic group who was interested to find a solution and bring a positive change to your neighborhood We'll begin with the HOA finalist if you would stand as I read your name heritage homeowners association They're back there. There they are There's was an all-in for the blue event hosted by the heritage poker club Members gathered raffle and silent auction prizes Sold tickets for a poker tournament and arranged in-kind food donations Volunteers and donations help them raise more than $20,000 for Fort Worth POA police officers assistance fun. Thank you for caring about our officers So if you're a poker player, you know where to go now The next nominee is the Villages of Woodland Springs HOA They're back to school celebrations They sponsored a charity school drive and a free garage sale neighbors dropped off gently used clothing household items Volunteers sorted them freshened them up and nearby neighbors could pick out whatever they needed to get their children and Themself ready for another year at school. Thank you for caring about those around you And the winner is the Villages of Woodland Springs HOA councilmember shingleton This annual back-to-school celebration started in 2013 as a fun end of summer party But in 2018 the event grew significantly to incorporate a free garage sale and school supply drive for a local charity Here's how it worked Residents donated clothing baby supplies household items and school supplies Volunteers sorted the items and helped community members shop for what they needed But there were no price tags. Everything was free The event was held just before the Texas tax-free shopping weekend So families were able to mark many items off their lists before ever doing their back-to-school shopping Businesses donated food face painting bounce houses and more so everyone had fun in Addition to those free garage sale items the event allowed a charity called donation house to provide more than a hundred and twenty school supply kits 350 closing clothing kits and nearly 100 backpacks as well as free haircuts Congratulations to the Villages of Woodland Springs What a great example of caring about our kids and families and getting them back into school We appreciate that the next award is the civic engagement finalists for the voluntary neighborhood associations Once again, if you would stand when I call your name Berkeley Place neighborhood association They established a coalition with six other neighborhoods businesses schools City officials to get approval to silence three railroad crossings that have been keeping neighbors up at night That's a major effort Thank you and the Ridgely North neighborhood association for their Community connection event they lined up dozens of speakers and Information tables with information for residents to talk one-on-one with city staff about their needs With nonprofits and with school and business groups so that everyone stays engaged Well, I just lost my page here. I hate that and The winner is Ridgely North association councilmember burden one of Ridgely North's goals last year was to better connect neighbors with city and social services a leadership brainstorming session came up with Community connection a one-stop resource fair where residents could get answers and even resolve ongoing concerns on the spot First leaders consulted their annual resident survey to compile a list of agencies and city departments That neighbors wanted to hear from they partnered with a nearby elementary school to provide indoor space large enough for more than a dozen exhibit tables and asked local businesses to donate snacks and bottled water They then booked their city council representative and NPO to give opening remarks and Encouraged members to visit all the tables around the room Leaders say the event broke down perceived barriers to information access They've already started to plan an even larger event with Ridgely area neighborhood alliance for this spring Congratulations Ridgely North Now mayor price will present our individual awards Isn't it impressive what these neighborhoods can do you come together? I love to tell cities when I had the chance to visit with their mayors at conferences What we're doing here and a lot of them are truly astounded that people still know the all their neighbors and Get out and get engaged so all of you or the winners are making footwork better This one is for neighborhood neighbor of the year is the first one. We're gonna do These are outstanding individuals I want to point out that these were not nominated by any of your elected officials or city staff But rather by the neighbors in their community by each and every one of you This is a new award this year for neighbor of the year when I call your name. Would you want to come forward? Okay, everybody come forward on this one Carol and Ray fame Carol and Ray were nominated by the Fairmont neighborhood for helping neighbors preserve and Restore woodwork in their historic home if you don't know these two trust me They are the energizer bunnies that you can't keep up with Next nominee is Darren George Darren nominated by the Berkman Nominated by the Berkeley place for his work on challenging neighborhood initiatives as well as assisting senior citizens in his Neighborhood to fill at home and be able to connect Darren, thank you Next nominee is Cheryl mix Cheryl Cheryl was nominated by the villages of woodland Springs for her charitable work with helping neighbors in need of school supplies Holiday gifts and much more making them know that a neighbor cares Cheryl. Thank you and Tabitha Williams Tabitha with not there's Tabitha way back there Nominated by Wedgewood East for keeping her neighbors informed reconnecting them with lost pets and serving as a COP citizens on patrol and Any other issue that arose that needed a neighbor to be involved Tabitha. Thank you Thank you all for your service and dedication and thank you for nominating this outstanding group and the winner is Darren George from Berkeley place Neighbors say that Darian George is an action-oriented guy in just one year He has helped secure a crosswalk on Forest Park for safer passage to Tilly Park Advocated for neighbors by meeting with owners of a large storage facility and getting them to fix poor drainage and cleanup construction trash He pushed to finish a neighborhood sidewalk initiative that provides a safe walk to school for children And he helped get a stop sign approved for a busy neighborhood Street But neighbors say that Darian also takes his role as a good neighbor very seriously I'd like to read an excerpt from that his nomination Darian has taken over as watchful eye for our elderly neighbor at the end of the street Raking his leaves and trimming trees this year We had a tragic situation occur where a neighbor lost her husband and Darian immediately Mobilized the neighborhood to make sure friends were made aware and a meal train was started He also hosted a party for the entire neighborhood in his backyard not a task many neighbors would be up for Congratulations to the neighbor of the year Darian George The mayor's council committee for people with disabilities is a group of citizens of all in Fort Worth human relations commissions and make Fort Worth a welcoming community for all We want to make sure it and that no one is left behind just because they aren't able to do it on their own They sponsor for us the Danny scarth trailblazer award Name for farmer council member Danny scarth who I don't think Danny is here with us today. Yeah We're so glad to have y'all support for this. Thank you for being on stage This award recognizes someone who in their everyday life Raises the awareness and makes real changes to improve opportunity for people with disabilities The finalists are Ronnie Bellamy Ronnie an Advocate for people who are blind or living with other disabilities through the National Federation for the blind chapter She provides resources information at all health fairs She is part of the effort that just this past October amended the US copyright laws to help provide reading material in Accessible formats for those with print disabilities She gives beep basketball beep baseball demonstrations at sports camps for all visually impaired children And she helps other blind individuals find volunteer opportunities in their community Ronnie says in addition to giving these folks confidence They give back so much to her and each and every one of us can show what it's like that people with Disabilities can do more than people expect of them Ronnie. Thank you Our next nominee is Dorothy Hill It's Dorothy Dorothy is an advocate for high quality in-house care for persons who depend on a ventilator She brought together physicians respiratory therapists and medical equipment providers to improve care and Support teams for those who must live with a ventilator and for those who care for them Here in Fort Worth Dorothy works the phones to connect individuals with resources that they might need and Provides expertise in housing issues for the disabled at the state level Dorothy travels to Austin at her own expense to advocate for Texas Health and Human Services Commission To put ventilator care upon the lawmakers agenda Dorothy. Thank you. I'm not sure Dorothy. There's Dorothy. Thank you And our next nominee is Rodney Rodney Wade here Rodney is co-founder and president of Fort Worth ISD's special ad PTA in 2018 he and the volunteers he recruited Created a formal district-wide PTA to advocate for children with special needs and special Accommodations his group educates parents and teachers about special needs Services that are available for the students with physical cognitive and learning disabilities The group also serves as a liaison to Fort Worth ISD's on important issues such as transportation For special ed kids the inaugural back-to-school meet-and-greet gave parents a chance to network With other parents oftentimes these parents have been isolated. It's a golden opportunity Rodney, thank you and the winner is Dorothy Hill They're an amazing group who works hard on behalf of all of us to make life even better Our next award is for code compliance is for the code compliance department for code officer of the year It's your neighborhood code officer, and you know how critical their work is Their routinely patrol is signed neighborhoods for code violations as well as investigate your complaints In fact, I called a code director just yesterday when one of my neighbors had an issue with a dog and a cat fight That did not end well got a prompt response and immediately it was taken care of Code officer of the year Recognizes an officer in addition to investigating Documenting and ensuring that complaints are handled according to city Regulations he also or she responds courteously effectively promptly Maintains great standards of customer Relationships at all times. Well the finalists, please stand and remain standing as I read your name Alfonso Otador, I probably butchered it Alfonso. I know exactly where he's sitting Alfonso was nominated by Arlington Heights and the Sunset neighborhoods two neighborhoods together who recognize his work. Thank you Jeff Payne nominated by the South Hills South neighborhood Jeff Thank you for your responsive work and Ray Salinas nominated by the new Mitchell Boulevard and United Riverside neighborhoods together Okay, would you both all come forward? Thank you and the winner is Ray Salinas will the new Mitchell Boulevard With the neighborhoods that nominated Ray new Mitchell Boulevard and United Riverside come forward for a group photo also Kelly this is this one yours. Yes Come on. Have you all nominated him come on? Of course you can Our code officer of the year Neighbors say he does an outstanding job keeping the neighborhood clean and safe Dealing effectively with illegal dumping and junk vehicles They say he also collaborates with other city departments to help fix problems that are outside Code compliance responsibilities Neighbors say he also brings compassion to the job for example helping an elderly neighbor Who had accumulated fees and fines while he was away from home receiving medical care to quote one neighbor in doing? Investigative work officer Salinas can find whispers in a whirlwind I do think that oftentimes our code department in the hard work that these men and women do goes forgotten Until you have a problem or until you have a trash dumped in your neighborhood or stray dogs or cats But let's give them another round of applause Brandon Bennett is back here And Our next award is the neighborhood police officer of the year patrol officer the year the NPO's as we commonly refer to him I bet every one of you in this neighborhood Know the majority of the NPO's you either have one that you've had a long time or you've had several rotate three They do the additional patrols identify the crime trends in the neighborhoods or Geographic area that they're assigned to they must communicate with you the businesses Back to us at City Hall attend your community meetings when they might rather be at home Volunteer for foster events Come in community leadership and help us recruit citizens on patrol volunteers They often are the single face in the police department that you know They too tend to be our unsung heroes. Thank you to all the NPO's in the room When I read your name for the finalists, would you just come forward so we'll have you here for photos and a certificate The first one is Daniel adobo Cory Carpenter Eric Charles Tracy Daughty Doug Guilford Belle Haddad Jorge Hernandez Nester Martinez Matt McClellan Deliric McNeil Alan Pennington and Jennifer Russell come over this way guys We have a record number of nominees this year, which means each and every one of you Which means that these guys and girls are doing a great job of connecting for us to have this many nominees We'll wait till they all get here up here and announce the winner I'll miss Jennifer and the winner is Belle Haddad from the West Division I bet you can guess who nominated Belle the Ridgely Norris Neighborhood Association Would you all stay with us for a minute for pictures? I'd like to say I'd like to share what the neighbors have to say about officer Haddad and his personal investment in helping the Association bring residents together He has created a kids mini police academy for national night out He gives regular crime prevention tips in the monthly association newsletter checks on construction projects in the area to prevent vandalism and theft Invites neighbors to join him for a bike ride or work out at the local gym and has helped organize an NPO round table with other area neighborhoods. Here's a quote from one of the residents Officer Haddad could very well be an honorary Membership chair for the association Because we often receive online applications from new neighbors who he's who say that he stopped by to introduce himself When he noticed they're moving van in the neighborhood and then encourage them to join the neighborhood association Let's give this crew one more round of applause. They really do a great job Our neighborhoods would not be what they are in Fort Worth without our NPO's and their hard work And without all our police department fire department code and all of city staff The real award you've been waiting for all day is our final award for neighborhood of the year It's a really big deal folks You were nominated for excellence in all areas Collaboration health beautification and the social connection aspects in your neighborhood Judges chose the neighborhood of the year from among all of the finalists for all of the awards in every commit in every category And the city's community engagement office will send a representative from the winning neighborhood To the USA national competition in Palm Springs. Maybe it'll be a golfer and you can play golf Fort Worth's 2018 neighborhood of the year is a group that's tackled what they described as a never-ending Circle of red tape and bureaucracy and yet they failed to take no for an answer Thank goodness for their tenacious fight to convince the railroad to silence the crossings We congratulate the Berkeley Place neighborhood as neighborhood of the year and I am Berkeley residents say the train horns used to blow loud and long at all hours even 3 a.m The city has no jurisdiction over railroads and even the federal railroad administration could do little So Berkeley Place began putting together a coalition They started with six surrounding neighborhood associations then contacted businesses and schools that were also bothered by the noise They found that officials were more willing to listen and help because of there were a large number of people being affected Money was another obstacle Silent crossings can cost more than a million dollars each to install Berkeley Place worked with the city to identify funds that legally could be spent on railroad crossings Then the group called on elected officials at the state and federal levels to help in the end Berkeley says it was the cooperation of other neighborhoods that pushed the project forward and will have residents sleeping better and enjoying Being in their backyards again Congratulations Berkeley Place our neighborhood of the year Congratulations to all our winners and thank you mayor price We would also like to give a big. Thank you to our major sponsor United Healthcare I'd like to ask United Healthcare is Aaron Graves to come up so we can thank him for providing today's lunch and so much more Good afternoon Can you guys hear me? It's funny because as a kid my mom said I talked a lot and I should be a preacher Right, so I guess I have my chance now to in the pulpit here to be a preacher But again, my name is Aaron Graves and I'm responsible for the relationship between the city of Fort Worth's Benefits Department and United Healthcare and it's an honor to be here because this is our third year sponsor in this event and The work that you do is truly truly amazing and every year I hear a new and innovative ideas that are coming out and helping your community and I Just apology for the work that you do The work that you do Not only strengthens your neighborhood, but strengthens Fort Worth the state of Texas and the country as a whole and When there's a lot of bad news out there and in horrible stories I know in here about what's going on in Fort Worth and it just makes me smile and I really appreciate that To that extent it's funny because I Always talk about my wife because I have to she's a Fort Worth native and Unbeknownst to me she was out here looking at houses. We live in Richardson So as a good chance I might be out in the audience with you next year, right? so Thank you Again, I just want to pause your efforts Your compassion the relationships that you build in this room They're right in line with our values at United Healthcare If there's anything we can do to help we'll galley do that and you know I just want to say thank you to Catherine as well Okay, I've worked with Catherine for the last three years and I look forward to getting that email and that call in late Summer say Aaron is that time of year again and and being here to help what she calls. I'm there and Her and our team Michelle. You've got a fabulous job, and I appreciate our our partnership and willingness to work together Thank you. We have the giveaway Alrighty everyone pull out your tickets. We'll give you a second to pull out your tickets. Okay as a reminder We're giving away an Amazon fire Okay, call your number, okay Okay, you have to be here to win. So let's see what we have Ticket number nine nine six zero Four zero are you here? Thank You Aaron Before we close I'd like to let all of our finalists know that we do have a certificate up here for you Will all the finalists from all of the award categories Please come up to the stage afterwards and pick up your certificate and remember I have a silver ring and some reading glasses that are still up here So thank you all for coming today Please let us know what you thought of the event so that we can make it better and Thanks for all you do to make Fort Worth a great place to live work and play