Revitalization
Our "Full-Strength Fort Worth" Revitalization Strategy
As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Fort Worth must be able to compete at full strength on an international stage for businesses, resources and top talent.
But Fort Worth can't operate at its full potential while parts of the community remain on the sidelines. Several of the city's neighborhoods have been negatively impacted by years of historic disinvestment and economic disparity, creating opportunities of unrealized potential throughout the city. Addressing these critical issues is essential to Fort Worth's long-term success, because all of our city's residents should have the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from Fort Worth's growing economic success.
The Full-Strength Fort Worth framework has been introduced to focus the city's economic and community vitality efforts to create a more equitable Fort Worth – specifically in key business corridors that serve as the heart of their communities.
The Full-Strength Fort Worth framework encourages both public and private investment, combining the expertise of local and national partners to create a comprehensive revitalization toolkit that will help the city become a leader in creating vibrant communities where everyone can thrive.
The Full-Strength Fort Worth's Revitalization Toolkit also allows for a customized, tailored approach towards development in each community, so that each solution can be as unique as the community itself. Its structure aligns key partners, resources, and neighborhood leaders towards a new vision — a vision of Fort Worth where all of its neighborhoods are celebrated as equitable drivers of economic change, allowing the city to compete at full-strength for businesses, resources and top talent.
The initiative is further supported by the recent refresh of the city's Economic Development Strategic Plan(PDF, 3MB), which strongly encourages equity-focused initiatives that also strengthen the local economy.
The ultimate goal of Full-Strength Fort Worth's holistic approach is to create equitable economic vitality and resiliency, while empowering the community and preserving each area's quality of place.
- Develop high-quality, sustainable investments in underserved communities, providing them with long-term economic resiliency.
- Create equitable opportunities and quality of life across Fort Worth's various neighborhoods.
- Design quality places and vibrant communities for residents and visitors alike.
- Collaborate with communities, local partners and outside organizations to develop strong commercial corridors.
- Support small business and entrepreneurship – particularly minority and women-owned businesses, and create job opportunities that can be supported by the surrounding neighborhoods.
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- Leverage resources to attract additional private investment opportunities, and provide more access to capital.
- Establish more mixed-income housing opportunities citywide.
- Minimize displacement while preserving the community and character of neighborhoods.
- Provide communities with access to economic development resources, empowering them to be active in the future of their neighborhoods.
- Guide future development by considering and preserving the cultural assets of Fort Worth's historic neighborhoods.
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Areas of Impact
Full-Strength Fort Worth's areas of impact are focused along key commercial corridors within the Central City that are in need of revitalization, including the preservation of historical and cultural assets, redevelopment of pre-existing sites, and business attraction and retention, and community capacity-building. While several of these areas include corridors in Fort Worth's east and southeast areas, there are also additional corridors throughout the city that also require tailored, thoughtful revitalization efforts.
- Altamesa & McCart
- Camp Bowie West
- Como
- East Berry
- East Lancaster
- Historic Handley
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- Historic Southside
- Near Northside
- Polytechnic
- Riverside East
- Stop Six
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View a PDF map of the City of Fort Worth's Revitalization Zones(PDF, 633KB)
Revitalization Toolkit
Each of Fort Worth's neighborhoods has its own distinct characteristics. That’s why a customized approach for revitalization and future development opportunities is required — an approach that addresses each neighborhood’s needs while also emphasizing its strengths and considering its personality.
Each aspect of revitalization functions as a unique tool in the toolkit, which allows the city and its partners to be more flexible in addressing the specific needs of each area. We can adapt to evolving communities by creating or improving these tools, introducing new tools over time, and paving the way for new tactics to address old problems with creativity and intention.
There are a variety of tools in the Full-Strength Fort Worth toolkit that can be combined in different ways to create customized strategies for development and investment that are just as unique as the community itself.
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Customized, community-led transformation strategies
The Full-Strength Fort Worth initiative empowers neighborhoods to develop and lead customized revitalization plans that are unique to their specific goals and needs.
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New mixed-income housing
To make central-city housing options more affordable, a variety of different price points need to be available in the same area to help ensure that residents who are currently part of the community can still afford to live there.
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Alignment of incentives and resources
City incentives and other funding sources are focused on creating equitable, long-lasting investment in Fort Worth's various communities.
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Quality of life retail, and healthy food access
When a community has what it needs, it thrives. Access to nearby retailers, grocery stores, and walkable surroundings are critical to a neighborhood's overall health.
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City-led catalytic projects
The City of Fort Worth is taking the lead on projects that will inspire future development and investment in local neighborhoods.
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Storytelling and data
This initiative will use cutting-edge data to inform neighborhood strategies and tell the broader business story of each individual Fort Worth community.
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Support for entrepreneurship and small business
Small businesses, "mom and pop" establishments, and local entrepreneurs are the heart of Fort Worth. This initiative and its partnerships will help businesses like these grow and thrive.
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Community partnerships and capacity-building
The Full-Strength Fort Worth initiative is all about partnerships, both local and national, that will empower communities to reach their fullest potential.
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Small-scale, incremental development
Small-scale development allows communities to grow gradually in size and scale, creating long-term change that still preserves the existing characteristics and personality of the area.
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Placemaking and design
Each of Fort Worth's neighborhoods has its own personality, and those characteristics should be promoted and celebrated by locals and visitors alike.
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Access to patient capital
With access to capital that doesn't require an immediate return on their investment, new development and projects that are more focused on community needs can become a reality.
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Community education and empowerment
The community is in the driver's seat, with the City and its partners helping educate stakeholders to better attract the types of development opportunities that could help the neighborhood meet its goals.
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Fort Worth Main Street Pilot Program
As part of the Full-Strength Fort Worth initiative, the City of Fort Worth has kicked off its first pilot program with Main Street America, a proven national leader in revitalizing commercial districts in several cities across the country. Fort Worth is partnering with Main Street America to support community economic development and the revitalization of commercial districts in Fort Worth's central city.
In August 2022, two pilot communities and their managing entities were selected to receive direct support from Main Street America over a three-year time frame. This pilot program includes funding for a community-focused, full-time staff person dedicated to implementing the long-term revitalization strategy developed in collaboration with Main Street America, as well as funding to implement projects and other development that supports the overall strategy and drives private investment into the district.
Fort Worth's first two Main Street pilot program districts are:
- Historic Northside (Managing organization: Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce)
- Polytechnic (Managing organization: Southeast Fort Worth, Inc. with support from Texas Wesleyan University)
Learn more about the Main Street Pilot Program
FULL-STRENGTH FORT WORTH PARTNERS :