JESUS. JOBS. JUSTICE | MORNINGSIDE 100: 100 JOBS. 100 SOLUTIONS. ONE COMMUNITY RISING.
JESUS. JOBS. JUSTICE | MORNINGSIDE 100: 100 JOBS. 100 SOLUTIONS. ONE COMMUNITY RISING.
Pastor Kyev P. Tatum Sr. Launches Comprehensive Strategy to Create 100 Livable-Wage Jobs in Fort Worth’s Historic Morningside Community. Link: https://dallasexpress.com/tarrant/church-launches-morningside-100-in-fort-worth-zip-code-facing-longstanding-challenges/
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The City of Fort Worth proudly celebrates its status as one of the fastest-growing cities in America. New businesses continue to relocate here, new developments rise across the landscape, and economic opportunity appears abundant.
Yet less than five minutes from downtown Fort Worth, a different reality exists.
In the historic Morningside community and throughout portions of the 76104 ZIP code, residents continue to face some of the highest poverty rates, greatest health disparities, and lowest life expectancy outcomes in the State of Texas.
According to public health data, portions of 76104 have been identified as having the lowest life expectancy in Texas, with residents living significantly shorter lives than those in other areas of the same city. While many factors contribute to these outcomes, Pastor Kyev P. Tatum Sr., Senior Pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, believes one solution rises above all others:
Create more livable-wage jobs.
“People cannot eat promises. They cannot pay rent with good intentions. They cannot improve their health without economic opportunity,” said Tatum. “If we want to improve life expectancy, improve educational outcomes, reduce crime, strengthen families, and improve health, we must create pathways to meaningful employment.”
To address these challenges, New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church has launched Morningside 100, an ambitious community transformation initiative built around a simple but powerful vision:
100 Jobs. 100 Solutions. One Community Rising.
The initiative represents a comprehensive and coherent economic mobility strategy designed to create 100 jobs while connecting residents to the resources necessary to achieve long-term stability and success.
Rather than focusing on a single issue, Morningside 100 recognizes that poverty, health, education, workforce development, housing, food security, and community wellness are interconnected challenges requiring interconnected solutions.
The initiative is powered through a growing network of church, nonprofit, educational, workforce, healthcare, business, and community partnerships working together to change the trajectory of life expectancy and quality of life in Morningside.
Programs supporting the Morningside 100 strategy include:
Skills City, USA Resilience Responders
Providing workforce development, emergency response training, logistics support, customer service preparation, and employment pathways for unemployed and underemployed residents.
Inner City Coffee Exchange & Coffee Allo Cooperative
Creating entrepreneurship, specialty coffee training, small business ownership opportunities, and workforce skills through the growing coffee industry.
Health iN The Hood & Clinic Without Walls
Connecting residents to preventive healthcare, mental health resources, screenings, health education, and wellness initiatives.
God’s Academy
Developing educational enrichment, mentoring, literacy, leadership development, and workforce readiness opportunities for youth.
Seasoned Seniors Services
Supporting older adults through wellness programs, social engagement, resource navigation, and quality-of-life services.
Nosotros La Gente Academy
Providing ESL classes, citizenship preparation, workforce readiness, digital literacy, and community integration opportunities.
Faith in the Farm
Promoting food security, urban agriculture, community gardening, healthy nutrition, and agricultural entrepreneurship.
The Chancellor CommuniVersity Center at New Mount Rose
Connecting residents to higher education, workforce certifications, digital access, legal services, entrepreneurship training, and lifelong learning opportunities.
Pastor Tatum describes the effort as a “community operating system” designed to bring together the strengths of the church, the community, the academy, healthcare providers, employers, and government agencies into a unified strategy for neighborhood transformation.
“We cannot simply study poverty. We must create pathways out of poverty,” Tatum said. “The greatest social program in America is still a good job. Every job we create represents a family strengthened, a child encouraged, a neighborhood stabilized, and a life extended.”
The Morningside 100 initiative calls upon city leaders, healthcare systems, schools, colleges, employers, faith communities, philanthropic organizations, and community partners to join in building an economic ecosystem where every resident has the opportunity to thrive.
As Fort Worth continues to grow, Morningside 100 seeks to ensure that the residents who have long called this community home are not left behind but instead become active participants in the city’s future prosperity.
Because when one community rises, the entire city rises with it.
“We Help As We Heal.” — Galatians 6:2
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