HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 10631 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 21-10631
p;T.Lo To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 10, 2021
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SUBJECT: COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST AND THE CITY'S REDISTRICTING
1675 PROCESS
In August 2020, the City Council appointed a task force to recommend the criteria and procedures by
which the Council should redraw its district boundaries after the U.S. Census Bureau releases block-level
population data from the 2020 census. The Redistricting Task Force presented its recommendations to the
City Council in March 2021 and the Council by Resolution No. 5375-04-2021 (April 6, 2021) adopted those
recommendations with only minor changes. One of the high-priority criteria adopted by the City Council
involves containing "communities of interest" within single districts. A community of interest is "a local
population with shared socio-economic characteristics and political institutions that would benefit from
unified representation." Communities of interest may include neighborhoods, groups of neighborhoods,
school attendance zones, and similar geographic areas.
To identify and protect these populations, the City has established a process whereby interested
organizations may register as communities of interest. City staff has designed an appropriate registration
form and has provided this form to organizations, neighborhoods, and individuals throughout the city. The
form is accessible on the City's website and hard copies are also available to anyone who may request it.
After our staff receives a completed form, we will reach out to the person who submitted the form and
confirm that we have an accurate map depicting the community of interest. If the group is not able to
create a suitable map, then our staff will work with them to create one. All maps will then be added to our
redistricting software so that the registered communities of interest may be protected during the
redistricting process.
We currently have over 640 neighborhoods, homeowners associations, community groups, and faith-
based organizations that are registered with the City. We are reaching out to each of these groups through
email messages and phone calls to advise them about the registration process. Of course, we recognize
that not all neighborhoods are well organized or registered with the City. To reach these groups, we will
be sharing information through the following channels:
• Media releases and interviews
• City News stories
• Social media: Facebook and Twitter
• Nextdoor posts
• Outreach to the Metropolitan Black Chamber, the Hispanic Chamber, and the All-Asian Chamber
of Commerce
• FWISD email to parents
• Tarrant Area Food Bank food distribution sites
• Handouts at community centers and libraries
We would like to work with interested Council members on other ways to identify and register communities
of interest within their Council districts. If you have any questions about the registration process for
communities of interest, please contact Michelle Gutt, Communications and Public Engagement Director,
at 817-392-6248 or michelle.gutt@fortworthtexas.gov.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS