Page 87 - Fort Worth City Budget 2019

General Fund

The most important horizon issue facing the Government Relations Department will be the 86th State Legislative
Session that is set to begin January 2019. This session is predicted to be the worst session for local governments
in the history of Texas. The state legislature will attempt to reduce the level of revenues that a city can generate
in order to pay for core services and programing. In addition, there will be major attempts to eliminate local
government charters, home rule authorities, local government protections and rule-making authority within local
governments.

Directions Home is leading a three month pilot project to get flow in emergency shelters in order to reduce the
unsheltered population. This pilot has four parts – temporarily expanding emergency shelter capacity, increased
diversion/rapid exit funds, creating employment incentives and requesting vouchers for permanent supportive
housing. Outcomes from this pilot project will be instrumental in shaping future use of Directions Home funds.
Increasing permanent supportive housing – a major focus of Directions Home -- is the development of permanent
supportive housing that is well-run and financially sustainable long-term. This involves identifying potential
internal and external funding sources.

During FY2017, the Education Initiative concept was launched in support of the community-wide focus on grade-
level reading. The community-wide effort is a collective impact approach spearheaded by Read Fort Worth (RFW).
The city’s Initiative is aimed specifically at the third grade reading to assist in achieving the city-wide goal
established by RFW, that is, 100% of 3rd grade students reading at grade level by 2025. As a partner in achieving
the goal, the city’s approach is to incorporate intentional reading interventions into select programs. These
programs will be offered in environments conducive to learning but different than a classroom set-up and be
interactive so that reading becomes FUN. Recognizing that early childhood education (Pre-K to 3rd grade) is
fundamental to academic success which leads to college or a career, the city’s approach is one avenue to creating
the workforce necessary to attract businesses, corporations and residents, resulting in a more robust economy as
referenced in the city’s Economic Development Strategic Plan.

Additionally, the city’s approach assures its alignment with the goals of RFW towards collective impact through
partnerships with the Fort Worth Independent School District, the business community and community providers
of educational programs, as well as local foundations. The city’s Initiative is scheduled for complete
implementation in the summer of 2019. Additionally, the city is represented and has an assigned liaison to RFW.

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