Fort Worth Nonprofit Targets Helping Residents Of 76104

Arlington TX

06 January, 2022

4:41 PM

Description

By Kristen Barton, Fort Worth Report January 5, 2022 Derrick Walker believes in keeping his head down, working hard and putting money back into his business, Smoke-A-Holics BBQ, where he is the owner and pit master. He is helping feed his community, but some in that community need help. To address the need, United Way Tarrant County began partnering in November with the nonprofit BRAVE/R Together to bring solutions to racial inequalities resulting in the lowest life expectancy rate in Texas to the 76104 area code. As part of helping find these solutions, BRAVE/R Together awarded nearly $110,000 to 13 organizations. "Once we read that research report, we came together and said, 'OK, we have to find a way to work together and to do something about it,'" United Way Tarrant County CEO Leah King said. The BRAVE/R Together's public phase started in July 2021. Founder Shawn Lassiter said the organization started as an idea about four or five years ago when she started looking at inequities in education. From there, she said, she engaged her community to address the issues in schools. The organization expanded from there and was developed to think about doing community work differently, not using a top-down approach. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.