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A MOMENT WITH THE PRESIDENT
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From the Desk of John Hernandez, President of FWHCC
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With another school year coming to a close, it is important that we take time to evaluate the success rates of our schools. We should continue to focus our efforts on encouraging our youth to further their education and pursue an advanced degree if possible. While approximately 80 percent of the Fort Worth population has a high school diploma, the percentage of our population with higher education is shockingly low. According to the US Census Bureau, only 27 percent of the Fort Worth population has a bachelor's degree or higher. Of that 27 percent, only 9.3 percent have a graduate degree or higher. With all of the universities and educational entities that are located within Tarrant County, these rates should be higher.
This problem affects our low-income and minority students, and is something that requires our attention and support. By reducing our dropout rates and increasing academic achievement, we will be able to set more students on a path to success.
Research shows that students who complete sixth through tenth grade on time and on track have much higher graduation rates than those who do not. For students, these transition years can present challenges that if left unaddressed may cause them to become distracted from their academics.
In order to help increase academic achievement amongst our youth, it is important to make these students and their families aware of all of the resources available to them. For example, our scholarship program provides various types of scholarships for continued education and trade schools throughout the state of Texas. A portion of the proceeds from our annual programs goes directly into our scholarship fund, which also receives donations from private donors and various universities and institutions. This year, we will be awarding 30 scholarships to Tarrant County students at the President's Scholar Dinner on June 15th.
These ideas should be implemented with the goal of strengthening Fort Worth's education system to promote continued education and improve career outcomes amongst our youth.
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EVENTS CALENDAR
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Fort Worth Latino American Archives
The Fort Worth Latino American Archives will be "unveiled" on
June 2nd
with an exhibit featuring selections from the newly curated archives. Join us from 5:30-7:30pm at the Fort Worth Central Library located at 500 W. Third Street for a reception celebrating this great new addition to the Fort Worth Library with refreshments, entertainment and family-friendly activities, as well as an encore presentation of the Strong Latinas exhibit. Both the Latino Archives and the Strong Latinas exhibit will be on display through the end of the summer. Free to attend, no registration necessary. Please call Veronica Villegas at the City Manager's office with questions (817) 392-6178.
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FWHCC Ambassador Interest Meeting
The FWHCC is hosting an interest meeting for our Ambassador Program on
June 9th at 6pm. Please join us at the FWT Consulting/BSA Global offices located at 715 Jones Street to learn more about becoming an Ambassador of the Chamber. This program serves as the public relations arm of the FWHCC, welcoming new businesses to Fort Worth, assisting with ribbon cutting ceremonies, visiting new members, attending events on behalf of the FWHCC, and community outreach, all helping you to get your name out in the community. No registration necessary. Please call Nicole at (817) 625-5411 with any questions.
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Five Pillar Lecture Series: Leadership
In Part 1 of the two-part Leadership installment of the Five Pillar Lecture Series, join the FWHCC and a panel of four successful Corporate Latinas on
June 16th
. We will be joined by Kim Cummings of BNSF Railway, Dr. Liz Trevino of Northside Community Health Center, Dr. Elva LeBlanc of Tarrant County College District, and Jennifer Trevino of UNT Health Science Center, moderated by JoAnn Jensen of New York Life. These women have successfully navigated a corporate environment and will share lessons learned and offer participants an opportunity to seek advice about working in a more structured environment. Please register
online
or call
(817) 625-5411.
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CHAMBER
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Dale Carnegie Training "Present to Influence" Workshop
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The FWHCC has partnered with Dale Carnegie Training of DFW to bring professional development workshops to Fort Worth. This past month, the FWHCC and Dale Carnegie hosted a "Present to Influence" workshop. We hosted a stellar group of over 50 attendees at the Fort Worth Club and presented techniques that helped attendees learn key presentation skills. The topics covered were how to establish trust, credibility, and respect, clarify key points of a message, use different types of presentation support tools, and how to open and close presentations with impact. The FWHCC and Dale Carnegie will continue to partner together on workshops like this in the future, so stay tuned for more opportunities to come!
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In collaboration with BlueZones, the Tarrant County Restaurant Association, and the FWHCC, the Summer Bash dinner was held this past month at Trimble Tech High School. The purpose of this dinner was to highlight the Pro-Start program within Fort Worth ISD. From the moment we arrived, we were impressed beyond words as these talented students showcased their hard work and dedication. We were welcomed by the cheerleading team guiding us to the garden. Here, we were made aware of just how passionate the school is about healthy foods by observing their garden and herb centerpieces. The culinary students had prepared delicious samples of food inspired by different regions from around the world. While we dined, the school's string orchestra played beautiful classical music. Without a doubt, this school is doing wonderful things for its students and the community. We left with a magnificent impression of what can be achieved through passion and leadership.
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Rollin Bredenberg's Retirement Party
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 The FWHCC was honored to co-host a retirement party for our long-time board member, Rollin Bredenberg. Rollin recently retired from over 50 years of service in the railroad industry as Vice President of BNSF Railway. Rollin served on the FWHCC's board of directors for many years and donated much of his time to the Chamber. Rollin was the recipient of the Chairman's Award at our recent 43rd Annual American Salute Gala, an award that recognizes an individual who best embodies the ideal balance between dedication to his or her profession and dedication to his or her community. Rollin dedicated countless hours to the success of BNSF as well as the success of the Chamber and many other community organizations. We appreciate everything he has done for our Chamber and community and we wish him the best in his retirement!
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COMMUNITY
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Blue Zones Northside Community Kickoff
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The FWHCC has had the opportunity to collaborate with the Blue Zones Project in Fort Worth. Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative to help make healthy choices easier for everyone in Fort Worth. A vital part of Fort Worth's Healthiest City Initiative, Blue Zones Project encourages changes in our community that lead to healthier options. When our entire community participates - from our worksites and schools to our restaurants and grocery stores - the small changes contribute to huge benefits for all of us: lowered healthcare costs, improved productivity, and ultimately, a higher quality of life.
It has been an honor and enjoyable experience for us to join Blue Zones as they encourage and educate our community about the importance and simplicity of healthy habits. Indisputably, our health is the most valuable, imperative and consequential wealth that we must all acknowledge and protect. Beyond understating this, it is urgent that we educate and influence our future generations and leaders so that they can habitually lead healthier, longer, happier and more productive lives.
This past month, Blue Zones hosted a Community Kickoff in our very own Northside neighborhood. The Kickoff featured healthy cooking demonstrations, free healthy food samples, and activities to help kids stay active. Thank you to all the community partners who are invested in the education of our future generations!
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Fort Worth ISD Young Men's Leadership Conference
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John Hernandez, President of the FWHCC, was invited to speak at the Young Men's Leadership Conference, a new FWISD initiative
focused on African American and Hispanic male students in an effort to help them develop strong leadership skills that will aid them in being better equiped to conquer the unique challenges they face over the school year.
There are several statistics that claim young boys are meeting the world at a disadvantage due to inequities that may exist in our community, however we know that every child is fully capable of overcoming anything with the right knowledge, life skills and support in place. Therefore now, and in the months ahead, the school district has several efforts focused on empowering and uplifting these students to help them be more successful. This event was one of the newest efforts FWISD will engage in this year as a total community supported effort. If successful this year, FWISD wants to try to make it an annual conference for students, parents, teachers, and the community.
John presented the topic "Hustle and Flow: Ways To Turn Your Passion Into Your Career", sharing the story of his time spent in the custom auto industry, where he turned his passion for cars into a successful business. His presentation showed the young men that it is possible to pursue a career in something that you're passionate about. Thank you to FWISD for putting on this program and for inviting us to be a part of it!
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Speeding To Read at Texas Motor Speedway
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Texas Motor Speedway invited the FWHCC to attend its end of the year celebration of their Speeding To Read program last week. The mission of Texas Motor Speedway's Speeding To Read program is to utilize motorsports, its drivers and races to incentivize elementary school children to read more frequently and enrich their educational experience and future.
The importance of reading is evident. An elementary school student that reads 20 minutes per day will read more than 1.8 million words per year and would rank among the 90th percentile. An elementary school student who reads five minutes per day will read 282,000 words per year and would rank in the 50th percentile. Students that read 20 minutes per day will read a total of 60 school days while the student that reads five minutes/day would be a total of just 12 school days. Students who are not proficient in reading by the third grade are four times likelier to drop out of school. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement in their futures.
Each school receives a "starter" kit to accentuate the program's motorsports theme with the following: Cartoon-style re-creation of Texas Motor Speedway as hallway centerpiece for the program. Stock car and Indy-car templates and utilizing student head shot for the students to create their own paint scheme and add on the track.
For 2015-16, Speeding To Read had 11 schools and more than 6,500 students - both equaling program highs - that represent a program-high seven ISDs. The schools participating are defending champion E.P. Rayzor (Denton); Sendera Ranch, O.A. Peterson, Samuel Beck (Northwest); Nathan Adams (Dallas); Carroll Peak, Riverside Applied Learning Center (Fort Worth); J.A. Hargrave (Crowley); Old Settlers, Rockbrook (Lewisville); and Northbrook (Eagle Mt.-Saginaw).
In total over 1,098,074 books were read this year by these students. In the 5 years since Texas Motor Speedway began the Speeding To Read program, 3,015,099 books have been read. Amazing!
If you would like information on this program for your FWISD school, please contact Flor Flores at
flor.flores@fwhcc.org for more information. This program is on a first come, first serve basis.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
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Every May, the Disabled Veterans Business Alliance hosts a two-day business-focused conference. This year, the event was held at AT&T Stadium and featured prominent and inspirational keynote speakers, offered educational workshops, a business expo, matchmaking with prime contractors and state agency buyers, and a variety of valuable tools and business resources. At "Keeping the Promise", attendees made valuable connections and had unprecedented opportunities for premier face-to-face networking opportunities.
"Keeping the Promise" keeps alive President Abraham Lincoln's call "to care for him who shall have borne the battle" in his second inaugural address a month before the Civil War ended. For the Alliance, a century and a half later, that means assisting disabled veterans as they successfully transition back to civilian life through entrepreneurship.
Below, Mike Sabellico, Executive Director of the Disabled Veterans Business Alliance, provides a recap of this year's event.
"Keeping the Promise" 2016 is in our rearview mirror as I write this article and from my perspective it was a tremendous success! The conference kicked off with a competition between veterans of the various services "pitching" a mock drone company called Prosperity from Above. This exercise jumpstarted the high energy networking that was interwoven in every aspect of the conference. Mr. Chase Cunningham, a DVBA DFW Chapter board member, represented the Navy and won the event with an impressive presentation which left people thinking they could start and make money with their own drone company!
We had 250 people attend the two-day conference, approximately 35 expo booths, and 40 matchmaking tables. There were many highlights including the VIP reception in the Draft King's Lounge just off the Dallas Cowboys' field at the Stadium. We heard from distinguished keynote speakers such as Sport Clips founder and CEO Gordon Logan; Dr. Betty Moseley Brown from the Department of Veterans Affairs; Joe Rapissi, Senior Vice President Lockheed Martin; Elizabeth McCormick, Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot; Harvetta Spann, CEO of the WAVE; and Martha Daniel, CEO of IMRI. Our second day lunch theme was women veterans; the speaker lineup was so moving and inspirational that they drew rousing standing ovations one after another. There wasn't a person in the room who didn't feel that positive energy and inspiration. 
The feedback we received from our members in attendance has been very positive. I've heard from several buyers who commented on the quality of the suppliers they met at the event and that they are happy to report that they were able to identify several potential new suppliers for upcoming contract opportunities. I know that many of the SDVOSBs and DVBEs in attendance were able to create new relationships or solidify current relationships which will result in new business opportunities down the road and allowed them to build and maintain their business development pipeline.
Always a very moving segment of our events is the swearing-in ceremony for our bravest new warriors. At the Gala dinner we had Captain Michael Steffen, Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Dallas Fort Worth and Joint Reserve Base, swear in 50 courageous young men and women into the five branches.
They will be our next generation of warfighters, peacekeepers, and service men and women who on a daily basis protect our way of life. They looked so young to me and I really enjoyed networking with them during and after the dinner.
Keeping the Promise Across America 2017 will be in Las Vegas during the week of 24 April! The event already has many top level sponsors and will again be filled with high energy speakers, a business expo hall, Alliance 1:1 Matchmaking, our annual DVBA "Pitch" contest, and engaging break-out sessions targeted for businesses ranging from start-ups to those that are well established. Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to the event.
In the coming year we will launch our "Pass the Torch" program which creates a market for recent veterans to buy businesses from those that have been running successful enterprises since Vietnam, helping them transition their business to the next generation of veteran and disabled veteran business owners.
Finally, I'm happy to report that our paid membership continues to grow daily. We hope to have 2000 by next KTP! Please see the website for more information and find out how you can become a member and learn about member only benefits!
All my best,
Mike Sabellico, Executive Director of the Disabled Veterans Business Alliance
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MEMBERS
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Dr. Jaime
González and his wife Lucy have graciously partnered with the FWHCC and HWNT to offer scholarships for the advancement of Latinos in the health care industry. The Gloria J.
González Memorial Scholarship Fund was created by the
González family in memory of Gloria J.
González, a former University of Texas at Austin student who was about to graduate and pursue medical school to become a pediatrician when she was tragically killed in a car accident in 1988.
Dr.
González recounts the legacy of his sister, Gloria, in a biography below.
"My sister Gloria was a unique young lady who was focused on becoming a pediatrician and an advocate for improving the health and well-being of the Hispanic/Latino community. As the youngest child (8th child) of Gonzalo and Concepción González, Gloria grew-up on Ft. Worth's Northside and attended Circle Park Elementary School (Manuel Jara Elementary School today), All Saints Catholic School and Nolan High School, where she was in the National Honor Society. She was involved in a number of school organizations; however, athletics were her passion. She was an avid athlete; and, she enjoyed playing basketball, softball, volleyball and was involved in a whole variety of other athletic activities. She was a competitive individual who consistently aspired to achieve the higher goal.
Gloria was also a gregarious individual and had numerous friends. She had a contagious smile and consistently approached her friendships in a very caring and generous way. She treasured her family and friends and had no problem letting them know how much she appreciated them. Often, she went out of her way to do special things for them like bake them a special treat that she knew they liked or to indulge them with some of her home-baked lasagna, brownies or chocolate chip cookies. She had a unique way of making you feel comfortable and welcomed around her.
Because she was committed to becoming a pediatrician, she chose the University of Texas Austin "UT" as the school where she would prepare herself for the next phase of her life. She was a pre-med student in the School of Natural Sciences; and, she excelled scholastically in all her college preparation. Gloria loved the sciences; and, while at UT, she was an undergraduate research assistant in the human performance laboratory. She was also very involved in a number of UT organizations including the Pre-Med/Pre-Dent Association, the National Chicano Health Organization, the Mexican-American Leadership Council and the National Science Council, to name a few. To say the least, Gloria was committed to her academic performance; and, just as she was competitive in athletics, she was equally as competitive in her scholastic accomplishments.
Gloria's legacy will last forever! Her aspirations to improve the health and well-being of her Hispanic/Latino community and her commitment to excelling in academic performance are attributes aspiring healthcare professionals can emulate. While she was only 21-years old when she departed from this beautiful earth, she left an amazing impression on the lives she touched, especially her family and friends."
Thank you to the
González Family for their generous donation that will help two individuals achieve their dreams of becoming health care professionals. If you are interested in making a contribution to the FWHCC Scholarship Fund, please click
here.
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Thanks to Our Corporate Partners
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GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
PARTNER
ASSOCIATES
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