THE MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING TO SAVE: Kyev Tatum’s Innovative Approach to Mental Health: From the Church Seats to the Community Streets to the College Suites — to Specialty Coffee.

 

THE MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING TO SAVE: Kyev Tatum’s Innovative Approach to Mental Health: From the Church Seats to the Community Streets to the College Suites — to Specialty Coffee. Link: https://www.tarrantsbdc.org/success-stories/center-coffee-research-education/

For more than forty years, Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. has dedicated his life to one central conviction: if you save the mind, you save the life. Whether serving in church sanctuaries, inner-city neighborhoods, university campuses, or entrepreneurial spaces, his mission has remained consistent — addressing mental health as the foundation for spiritual strength, economic mobility, and community transformation.

Pastor Tatum began his journey serving university students across Texas, including the University of North Texas, Texas Woman’s University, and Texas State University. Early in his career, he recognized that academic success is inseparable from emotional and mental well-being. That conviction propelled him beyond campus borders into community innovation. He founded the Mitchell Community Opportunity Center, helped launch the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Central Texas, and established the first charter school in San Marcos, Texas — Texas Preparatory School — each initiative designed to expand access and opportunity for underserved populations.

After further training and development, he returned home to Fort Worth as a community outreach minister, serving congregations including Harmony Missionary Baptist Church and Bethlehem Baptist Church. In 2018, he was called to serve as Senior Pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in the historic Morningside community (76104) — a zip code recognized as having one of the lowest life expectancies in Texas. There, he has led with bold compassion, measurable impact, and visionary leadership.

Recognizing the long-term effects of trauma, Pastor Tatum developed a transformative mental health framework entitled “Face Your ACE with Grace.” Built around the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), the program equips adults to confront, process, and overcome childhood trauma through faith-informed, trauma-aware strategies that promote healing, resilience, and restoration.

During the 2020 global pandemic, Pastor Tatum established one of the largest grassroots emergency response hubs in the nation. Under his leadership, New Mount Rose distributed more than $25 million in personal protective equipment, farm-to-family food boxes, COVID-19 testing, and vaccines. The church also became the only congregation in Fort Worth to provide Monoclonal Antibody Infusion therapy at the height of the crisis. Link: https://www.fox4news.com/news/fort-worth-church-offering-free-covid-19-vaccines-treatments

In January 2026, when winter storms endangered vulnerable residents, New Mount Rose operated as the only 24-hour drop-off warming center in Fort Worth, rescuing more than 55 unsheltered neighbors from freezing conditions and providing food, shelter, dignity, and hope.

Across every season of service, Pastor Tatum has observed a consistent truth: mental health is the hidden driver behind educational failure, economic instability, spiritual stagnation, and community despair. Determined to address it with both faith and evidence-informed insight, he trained with the Alliance for Greater Works — a national network of subject matter experts dedicated to strengthening leaders and improving community well-being. Through this collaboration, he deepened his expertise in trauma-informed leadership and systemic transformation.

Yet Pastor Tatum did not stop at theory.

In a bold and innovative move, he established a five-year collaborative partnership with the Texas A&M University Center for Coffee Research and Education in College Station and What’s the Buzz Specialty Coffee to explore the intersection of specialty coffee, community development, and mental wellness. Through this collaboration, he launched the Inner City Coffee Exchange, a nonprofit initiative addressing both economic hardship and mental health challenges in under-resourced communities.

Drawing from emerging research suggesting that moderate coffee consumption may positively influence neurological function — including caffeine’s role in blocking adenosine receptors and increasing dopamine activity — as well as studies exploring associations between moderate intake and cellular health markers, Pastor Tatum saw specialty coffee not merely as a beverage, but as a bridge: a gathering space, a workforce pathway, and a platform for dignity.

From that vision emerged the Coffee Allo Cooperative, a specialty coffee enterprise designed specifically for single mothers seeking economic sustainability while navigating the mental health stressors of poverty. The cooperative provides workforce development, barista certification pathways, entrepreneurship training, mentorship, and a supportive community ecosystem — empowering women to build generational stability one cup of coffee at a time.

Pastor Tatum’s work demonstrates that innovation does not require abandoning faith. It can rise directly from it — informed by research, strengthened by collaboration, and rooted in compassion.

From church seats to community streets to college suites — and now to specialty coffee — Kyev Tatum stands as a visionary pastor, mental health advocate, and economic innovator who understands that healing the mind is essential to transforming lives.

Because the mind is a wonderful thing to save.

Connect at: www.newmountrose.com