In front of a packed crowd at Dickies Arena on Thursday morning, Mayor Mattie Parker delivered an optimistic State of the City address, celebrating Fort Worth’s growth and stability, while also acknowledging challenges with homelessness and the city’s struggling public school district.
The sold-out luncheon brought together Fort Worth businesses, community leaders, and major sponsors to reflect on the city’s progress and look ahead to its next chapter.
The event began with networking at 10:30 a.m., followed by lunch and recognition of local entrepreneurs who helped drive the city’s growth in 2025.
Before Parker took the stage, the Fort Worth Chamber presented the 2025 Small Business and Innovator Awards, highlighting the city’s business community. Among the honorees were:
- Emerging Business Award: At Your Home Caregiving of Texas
- 1–20 Employees: Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation
- 21–50 Employees: Bob Moore Construction
Parker’s speech centered on Fort Worth’s story of steady, responsible growth, opening by saying, “Perhaps most importantly, we raised our budget without raising your taxes.”
The mayor quickly shifted to discussing the city’s continued focus on managing homelessness.
“One area we have doubled down is homelessness solutions,” she said. “The discussion of homelessness often feels impersonal, but we are talking about human beings who are in crisis. No one living on the streets is well. It is very critical we maintain our focus, and our momentum on this issue.”
The Police Department, and overall public safety, were another theme of discussion, earning some of the day’s loudest applause. “The Fort Worth police department continues to be one of the best departments in the entire country thanks to our initiatives,” Parker said acknowledging the recent SmartAsset.com study that ranked Fort Worth the third safest city in America.
She then welcomed new Police Chief Eddie Garcia, praising his reputation for building trust and transparency. Garcia previously served as Dallas’ police chief before resigning last year to take an assistant city manager position in Austin. His recruitment and hiring were widely seen as a major win for City Manager Jay Chapa, who has only been in the role since late January. Notably, Dallas reportedly did not want to lose Garcia to Austin, another major Texas city located about 30 miles away.
Parker said she expects the police department to be fully staffed by 2026. The mayor also celebrated the addition of more than 600 first responders following the introduction of a new EMS system within the Fire Department, which has statistically improved emergency response times across all city districts.
The Mayor would also recognized and honored the city’s first responders for the city’s quick action during recent Central Texas flooding, as previously reported by DX, where more than 20 Fort Worth personnel joined rescue efforts.
The City Council’s decision to rename the South Division headquarters in honor of Sgt. Billy Randolph was another reminder Thursday that Parker and the community will not forget its fallen heroes.
Turning to public education, Parker shared data showing Fort Worth ISD students met grade-level standards only 37% of the time on the Texas STAAR exams in 2024–2025. That figure is up two percentage points from the year before. The district faces a possible state takeover, and several failing campuses are already undergoing state-led transformations.
Fort Worth ISD is a separate governmental and taxing entity from the City of Fort Worth and not Parker’s direct responsibility. However, Parker has publicly pressed FWISD Trustees on critical reform efforts as the district’s performance improvement is critical to the future of the city’s economic development and public safety.
“This is where our students are, it may be a stark reality, but importantly a great story worth telling is that this community has responded with a tremendous amount of work in the last 5 years. We are absolutely headed on the right path. I see it every single day,” she said; later praising new early college high school programs that allow students to earn associate degrees before graduating.
On the health front, Parker cited a TCU initiative in which the school distributed 10,000 bottles of prenatal iron this year to expectant mothers. “One iron pill a day can reduce the need for blood transfusions in childbirth by one-third,” she explained.
Parker closed by celebrating Fort Worth’s economic momentum, particularly the city’s growing film industry, which has reportedly created more than 50,000 jobs and generated roughly $1 billion in economic impact.
“Our story has always been about growth,” Parker told the crowd.