Community Champions: Alumni Making a Difference in Fort Worth

Fort Worth moves forward because people step up. Across neighborhoods from Stop Six to the Near Southside — and in sectors ranging from education and small-business development to arts, health, and urban design — Texas Wesleyan University alumni are building partnerships, launching nonprofits, leading public agencies and inspiring the next generation to serve.

Below, you’ll discover how that “Smaller. Smarter.” ethos translates into lasting change for the City of Cowboys and Culture, plus how Rams can plug in.

Why Alumni Impact Matters in Fort Worth

A thriving city depends on leaders who know their community and how to get things done. Texas Wesleyan alumni bring both: They’re rooted in Fort Worth’s civic fabric and trained to drive measurable outcomes. Their work elevates quality of life, expands opportunity, and strengthens the local economy. Often, this is achieved by mobilizing cross-sector partnerships that unite city government, businesses, schools and grassroots organizations.

Civic Leadership and Public–Private Partnerships

From neighborhood capital projects to citywide workforce initiatives, complex challenges get solved when public agencies, private employers, and nonprofits row in the same direction. Alumni leaders are often the conveners — translating needs on the ground, aligning stakeholders around shared metrics, and turning aspirations into action plans. Whether it’s a business assistance center teaming up with the city’s economic-development office or a school district collaborating with health providers and youth programs, these coalitions accelerate outcomes that no single entity could achieve alone.

Economic Mobility and Workforce Development Programs

Fort Worth’s growth story depends on inclusive pathways into good jobs. Alumni advance that vision by connecting small businesses with technical assistance, guiding high-school students toward degrees and industry certifications and supporting adult learners returning to complete degrees. They champion sector partnerships, paid internships and “earn-and-learn” models that turn classrooms into launchpads. The goal of helping more residents move from subsistence to stability to success is an important one.

Arts, Culture, and Community Identity

Cultural life is more than entertainment; it’s economic development, mental health, and civic pride rolled into one. Alumni may collaborate with arts nonprofits, city cultural councils, and local venues to expand programming, fund public art and create safe, welcoming spaces where neighbors gather. In doing so, they amplify Fort Worth’s identity through its history, diversity, and creative future.

Nonprofit Innovators and Community Services

Nonprofits are the city’s frontline problem solvers. Alumni founders, executives, clinicians, educators, and board members lead organizations that bring vital services to residents and close equity gaps across health, education, housing and more.

Health Equity Initiatives, Food Security, and Behavioral Health

Alumni clinicians, social workers, and program managers push care beyond clinic walls. From a holistic perspective, they treat the condition, address the root cause, and measure outcomes that matter to patients and neighborhoods. They might work to:

• Integrate mental health support with primary care
• Expand food-as-medicine pilots.
• Build referral networks so families can access transportation, legal aid, or rental assistance alongside counseling.

For instance, Texas Health Community Hope partners with Texas Wesleyan to operate an on-campus food pantry that provides free, healthy groceries (especially fresh produce) to students facing nutrition insecurity. The initiative expands Texas Health’s “Good For You Pantry” model to the university, improving access to nutritious food and basic-needs support.

Youth Mentorship Programs, Education Access, and College Readiness

From literacy tutoring and STEM enrichment to FAFSA coaching and “last-dollar” scholarships, alumni deliver cradle-to-career support. They design evidence-based programs, train mentors, and coordinate with school counselors and principals. Through consistent relationships, clear milestones and meaningful exposure to college and careers, they help students see — and step into — their futures.

Housing Stability, Reentry Support, and Elder Care

Partnering with courts, shelters, hospitals, or faith communities, alumni nonprofit leaders align scarce resources around human dignity and long-term stability. They may help:

• Stabilize households through eviction-prevention funds, legal navigation and rapid-rehousing.
• Reduce recidivism with job training and peer support.
• Dignify aging with home- and community-based services.

Civic Engagement Programs and Local Government Collaboration

Change sticks when it’s institutionalized. Alumni in public service bring data-driven management and community-first mindsets to city halls, school districts and county agencies.

Neighborhood Engagement and Volunteer Mobilization

From block-party grants to community service days, alumni program managers design initiatives that meet people where they are. They train neighborhood leaders, build resident advisory councils and use multilingual outreach to bring more voices into planning rooms. Volunteers are integrated into program operations with clear roles, training and feedback loops.

Policy Advocacy, Grants, and Citywide Coalitions

Alumni administrators and policy analysts help public agencies win competitive grants, align budgets to priorities, and pass policies that expand opportunity — like small-business relief or Safe Routes to School, a project that “created new sidewalks, curb ramps, driveways, signs and a small retaining walls” within a specified radius of school campuses. Thus, there exists potential to convene coalitions that share data and coordinate service delivery across the city, translating policy into practice at the neighborhood level.

Public Health, Safety, and Emergency Preparedness

Whether coordinating vaccination clinics or developing extreme-heat response plans, alumni in public health and emergency management operate with speed and equity in mind. They might build cross-departmental incident command structures, partner with community-based organizations to reach vulnerable residents and evaluate after-action reports to continuously improve.

Urban Revitalization and Social Entrepreneurship

Fort Worth’s next chapter is being written block by block. When it comes to neighborhood revitalization, social impact leaders, planners, designers, entrepreneurs and place-makers are activating main streets and preserving cultural assets, not to mention weaving sustainability into economic development.

Small Business Incubation and Main-Street Renewal

Healthy business corridors need more than ribbon cuttings. Alumni drive entrepreneurship programs and merchant associations that help local retailers survive construction, adapt to e-commerce and grow revenues through joint marketing.

In 2025, Texas Wesleyan University assumed the role of managing organization for the Polytechnic Heights Main Street district — one of Fort Worth's two pilot corridors in a groundbreaking partnership with Main Street America. Fort Worth is the first city in Texas to partner with Main Street America on a coordination program spanning multiple corridors across the city, joining major urban centers like Washington D.C., Chicago, and Boston that have embraced this proven community-transformation framework.

The pilot program empowers community stakeholders through economic development trainings, helps capture neighborhood priorities in a customized transformation strategy, and provides up to $270,000 in grant funding aligned with Main Street America's four-point approach: economic vitality, organization, design, and promotion. In June 2025, the Fort Worth Local Development Corporation voted to extend support for both Main Street corridors for another two years, a testament to the program's early success.

Taking the lead in Polytechnic Heights, Texas Wesleyan is helping local merchants build capacity for the long haul by organizing volunteers and connecting small businesses to anti-displacement resources, ultimately creating a shared vision that turns a commercial strip into a true neighborhood anchor.

Adaptive Reuse, Placemaking, and Streetscape Design

Turning an empty warehouse into a creative hub or a vacant lot into a pop-up plaza requires imagination and approvals. Alumni who work in real estate, architecture and planning help communities navigate zoning, secure façade grants and design streets that are safe for pedestrians and cyclists. The result? Human-scaled places that honor history while inviting new investment.

Sustainability, Green Space, and Transit-Oriented Growth

Alumni environmental champions integrate green infrastructure, tree canopy goals, and trail connections into redevelopment. They also advocate for transit-oriented development and design that links affordable housing, jobs and education, which allow:

• Commutes to shrink
• Air quality to improve
• Residents to reclaim time for family, learning and civic life

Alumni Spotlights and Case Examples

Devoyd “Dee” Jennings ’71: Champion for Small Business and Inclusive Growth

A revered business and civic leader, Devoyd “Dee” Jennings devoted his life to expanding opportunity, especially for entrepreneurs from historically underrepresented communities and Black-owned businesses. In recognition of his legacy, Fort Worth officially renamed the city’s Business Assistance Center as the Devoyd Jennings Business Assistance Center (BAC) — a hub where small-business owners receive coaching, training and access to capital. The renaming, approved by City Council, underscored Jennings’ decades of leadership and mentorship across the city’s business community.

The BAC’s work continues: The City highlights the center’s role in offering technical assistance, workshops, and business plan support to help local firms launch, stabilize and scale. This demonstrates how one alumnus’s vision can institutionalize support for entrepreneurship citywide.

Congressman Marc Veasey ’95: Civic Voice for North Texas

Born and raised in Fort Worth, U.S. Representative Marc Veasey (TX-33) has long remained connected to his alma mater. In 2017, he returned to Texas Wesleyan to deliver the fall commencement address — urging graduates to engage in public life and community leadership.

As a federal lawmaker representing portions of Fort Worth and Dallas, Veasey’s work spans jobs and infrastructure, voting rights, and support for working families. Additionally, per the news release regarding his 2017 appearance, “Congressman Veasey is committed to creating jobs, encouraging economic growth, improving public education, promoting immigration reform and ensuring access to quality healthcare.” His continued relationship with Texas Wesleyan models how alumni can leverage public platforms to advocate for local priorities and inspire students to serve.

How Texas Wesleyan Cultivates Community Leaders

Alumni don’t arrive at impact by accident. At Texas Wesleyan, academic experience is intentionally designed to link theory, practice and service to help students learn by doing, lead with purpose and build the networks that sustain civic work over a career.

Service-Learning, Practicums, and Field Placements

Across disciplines — from business and education to the social sciences and health professions — students complete projects with real partners by, for example:

• Drafting strategic plans for nonprofits
• Supporting data collection for city initiatives
• Designing communications campaigns for community coalitions

Practicums and field placements embed Rams inside organizations where their work has immediate value and where supervisors become references, mentors and sometimes future employers.

Mentorship Networks, Alumni Alliances, and Faculty Guidance

Faculty bring practitioner experience and local relationships into the classroom, connecting students to alumni working in city agencies, independent school districts and mission-driven companies. When it comes to your network:

• Alumni panels can help demystify career paths.
• One-to-one mentorships offer candid advice.
• Networking nights foster collaborations across cohorts and industries.

Micro-Grants, Pitch Funds, and Campus Resources

Seed capital and supportive infrastructure turn ideas into pilots. Through campus resources — such as micro-grants for community research, pitch funds for social-enterprise concepts and access to the BAC ecosystem — students and recent graduates can test and scale programs that meet local needs. The university’s writing, data and entrepreneurship supports ensure projects are proposal-ready and budget-sound from day one.

Get Connected and Take Action

Upcoming Events and Volunteer Opportunities

• Use our events calendar to check for volunteer opportunities.
• Volunteer with community partners you met while at TXWES — youth tutoring, small-business workshops, neighborhood cleanups and cultural events.
• Mentor a student through an alumni network or department program; resume reviews, mock interviews and career panels go a long way.
• Attend civic forums and town halls to stay informed on local issues, like school board initiatives and mobility plans.
• Join BAC programming — as a speaker, trainer, or pro-bono advisor — supporting Fort Worth’s entrepreneurs. The Devoyd Jennings BAC continues to anchor resources for local businesses.

Corporate Partnerships and Philanthropy Pathways

• Sponsor scholarships that reduce unmet need for Fort Worth students entering TXWES.
• Fund capstone projects that deliver technical assistance to nonprofits and small businesses.
• Support social-enterprise pilots with in-kind expertise (legal, marketing, data) and catalytic grants.
• Match employee giving and offer paid volunteer days to multiply your team’s impact.

Share Your Alumni Impact Story

Are you leading a neighborhood initiative, launching a nonprofit or scaling a mission-driven business? Tell us. Your story equips current students with models to follow and inspires fellow alumni to act. Be it city leadership and classrooms or startup studios and studios for the arts, Texas Wesleyan’s communications channels regularly spotlight Rams who are moving Fort Worth forward. (If your work intersects with the BAC, FWISD, or policy advocacy, all the better; these are citywide leverage points where alumni leadership is especially catalytic.)

Learn More About Community Involvement and Giving Back to the Community at TXWES

Cities become great when neighbors commit to one another. That’s the Texas Wesleyan way: Learn deeply, serve boldly, and keep showing up for the place you call home. The legacies of alumni like Devoyd “Dee” Jennings, Dr. Karen Molinar, and Congressman Marc Veasey remind us that impact extends beyond making headlines. It means making a habit of investing in people, building strong institutions, and widening the circle of opportunity. If you’re a Ram in Fort Worth (or anywhere), take the next steps to connect, contribute, and lead.

Want to get involved in student life on campus and mentor others, volunteer with a neighborhood project, or partner on a community service project initiative? Reach out to Texas Wesleyan’s alumni engagement team and discover ways your expertise can strengthen Fort Worth — today and for generations to come.