Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley’s Legacy Lives On Through New “CommuniVersity” Initiative in Fort Worth’s Historic 76104 Community.

Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley’s Legacy Lives On Through New “CommuniVersity” Initiative in Fort Worth’s Historic 76104 Community. Link: https://youtu.be/_TgzbNfeAYw?si=vMElIDGhlFtQwtwW

By Staff Reports

FORT WORTH — In a neighborhood often defined by statistics, one church is working to redefine the future through education, opportunity, health, and hope.

The effort bears the name of a woman who spent her life opening doors for others.

More than a decade after her passing, the legacy of former Tarrant County College Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley continues to shape lives across North Texas through a new initiative designed to bring educational opportunity and community transformation directly into the heart of Fort Worth.

The Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley CommuniVersity Center, a faith-based initiative of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, seeks to connect residents of Fort Worth’s historic 76104 community to educational, health, workforce, legal, and economic resources that can improve both quality of life and life expectancy.

Church leaders describe the effort as a bold new “Pipeline to Possibilities”—one that seeks to bring together the resources of higher education, healthcare, workforce development, emergency preparedness, legal services, and community engagement under one roof.

For many educators, community leaders, and former students, Chancellor Hadley represented the very best of higher education.

She was a visionary leader.

A champion for students.

A bridge-builder between institutions and communities.

A believer in the transformative power of education.

Throughout her career, Hadley championed access, opportunity, and equity. As Chancellor of Tarrant County College District, she worked to ensure that higher education remained within reach for individuals and families seeking a better future.

Yet her influence extended well beyond classrooms and college campuses.

Hadley was also a longtime faithful member of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, where she worshipped, served, encouraged others, and quietly invested in the life of the congregation. Her commitment to faith and service made her a respected voice within the church and throughout the community.

Among those she influenced was Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., who would later become pastor of New Mount Rose following her passing.

Long before he became pastor, Tatum viewed Chancellor Hadley as a mentor, trusted advisor, and friend. Through her example, he witnessed how education could become a tool for service, how leadership could be exercised with humility, and how institutions could be leveraged to strengthen communities.

Although Hadley did not live to see Tatum become pastor, her influence remains woven throughout many of the initiatives that now define New Mount Rose’s community impact.

For Tatum, naming the center in her honor was more than a ceremonial decision.

It was a deeply personal tribute.

A way to ensure future generations would know the story of a woman who spent her life opening doors for others.

A woman who believed in people.

A woman who invested in leaders.

A woman who understood that education could change the trajectory of a family, a neighborhood, and an entire city.

Today, that same spirit is being carried forward through the CommuniVersity Center.

Located at 2864 Mississippi Avenue, the center was established to bring educational and community resources directly into one of Fort Worth’s most historically underserved communities.

The mission is particularly significant in the 76104 zip code, an area that has long faced challenges related to educational attainment, healthcare access, workforce participation, economic mobility, and life expectancy.

Rather than asking residents to travel across the region in search of resources, the CommuniVersity Center seeks to bring opportunity directly into the neighborhood.

Its guiding philosophy is simple:

Bring the university to the community.

The initiative is supported by a growing network of strategic partnerships designed to connect residents with pathways to success.

Among its key collaborators are Tarrant County College District, The University of North Texas at Dallas, The University of Texas at Arlington, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, Cook Children’s Health Plan and Network, Midwest Food Bank, and the American Red Cross, along with a growing network of faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, healthcare providers, governmental entities, businesses, and philanthropic leaders from across North Texas and throughout the nation.

Together, these partnerships create pathways to higher education, healthcare access, workforce development, digital literacy, legal assistance, entrepreneurship, food security, disaster preparedness, emergency response, and economic mobility.

The inclusion of Tarrant County College District carries special significance as a continuation of Chancellor Hadley’s lifelong commitment to educational opportunity.

Likewise, the American Red Cross partnership strengthens the center’s focus on resilience, disaster preparedness, emergency response training, and helping families recover from unexpected crises.

Organizers emphasize that the CommuniVersity Center is not intended to operate alone.

Instead, it serves as a hub where resources, relationships, and opportunities converge.

“It takes a village to transform a community,” said Tatum. “The challenges facing our neighborhoods are too large for any one institution to solve by itself. The CommuniVersity Center creates a table where educators, healthcare professionals, legal advocates, workforce leaders, emergency response organizations, churches, businesses, and community residents can work together to create lasting change.”

That philosophy reflects Tatum’s own four decades of experience in higher education, administration, leadership development, workforce programming, community engagement, and organizational management.

A graduate of Tarleton State University and the University of North Texas, with additional studies at Texas Woman’s University, Texas State University, and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Tatum has served as a student leader, university administrator, community advocate, pastor, nonprofit executive, mentor, and collaborator across multiple educational institutions and community organizations.

Throughout a career spanning more than 40 years, he has developed workforce initiatives, community service programs, educational partnerships, youth leadership opportunities, faith-based outreach efforts, and collaborative projects designed to connect people with pathways to success.

Those experiences helped shape a model that views education not simply as a destination, but as a catalyst for community transformation.

The result is what leaders describe as a CommuniVersity—a place where learning meets service, faith meets opportunity, and community becomes a classroom for transformation.

The center is organized around seven pillars:

• Citizenship and Civic Engagement Training

• Community Health Worker Education

• Digital Literacy and Computer Access

• Specialty Coffee Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development

• Youth Leadership and Development

• Community Justice Worker, Credit, and Legal Assistance Certification

• Skills City, USA Resilience Response Training

Together, these initiatives address the seven dimensions of wellness: physical, mental, spiritual, social, vocational, environmental, and financial well-being.

Supporters say the vision extends far beyond offering programs.

The goal is to improve educational attainment.

To strengthen families.

To increase workforce participation.

To improve health outcomes.

To create entrepreneurs.

To develop leaders.

To expand opportunity.

And ultimately, to help change the trajectory of life expectancy in Fort Worth’s central city.

For New Mount Rose, the CommuniVersity Center represents a natural extension of the church’s longstanding commitment to community transformation through food security initiatives, healthcare outreach, workforce development, immigration assistance, legal access programs, youth engagement, and neighborhood revitalization.

Its philosophy is captured in a statement displayed throughout the center:

“From the Classroom to the Boardroom. From the Schoolhouse to the Church House.”

As partnerships continue to grow, organizers hope Chancellor Hadley’s name will remind future generations that education remains one of society’s most powerful instruments for change.

Not merely a pathway to a degree.

But a pathway to dignity.

A pathway to opportunity.

A pathway to hope.

And for countless families in Fort Worth’s 76104 community, a pathway to a brighter future.

The guiding principle remains unchanged:

“Honoring a Legacy. Building a Future.”

Through the Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley CommuniVersity Center, that future is already taking shape—one student, one family, one opportunity, and one transformed life at a time.

In many ways, the center stands as a living tribute to the woman whose name it bears.

Not simply because it carries her name.

But because it carries her values.

Her commitment to learning.

Her passion for people.

Her belief that opportunity should be available to everyone.

And her conviction that education remains one of the most powerful forces for changing lives.

A place where education serves the community.

A place where opportunity is within reach.

A place where Chancellor Hadley’s legacy continues to open doors.

And a place where the future of Fort Worth’s central city is being written every day.

For more information about the Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley CommuniVersity Center, contact Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr. at 817-966-7625, visit www.newmountrose.com, or support the initiative through Zelle at newmtrosembc@gmail.com.