On weekends, the Katy Trail in Dallas jams up, and it can feel like every one of the 8.1 million of us in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is on the path. Regulars know to get out early if they don’t want to painfully navigate throngs of walkers and runners.
With planners expecting our population to surge to 12 million by 2050, getting out early is what The Dallas Morning News is doing with our Future of North Texas initiative.
This bold expansion of our community-funded journalism will add eight journalists to cover the impact of surging population on our workforce, our schools, our roads, our health care, our energy and our neighborhoods, and to understand what expansion means for inclusive growth.
We know such a dramatic influx of people will change the community we love, in ways we can imagine and many more we cannot.
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That’s why we’re assembling a talented team of reporters to track key areas. Already, we have hired five journalists and you’ll see the scope of their efforts as the project launch unfolds this week:
- Lana Ferguson is our energy and natural resources reporter, a beat we brought back after some time to account for the threat we face ensuring there’s enough water and energy for 12 million people.
- Aria Jones, a Dallas native, is our Southern Dallas reporter. Already behind in health care, transportation and essential services, this community is incredibly important when we think about how Dallas-Fort Worth changes in the next 25 years. Will we grow together?
- Wilborn P. Nobles III is our workforce readiness and economic mobility reporter, a beat we created to account for the challenge our community is facing as more companies move in and more paths are needed for skilled workers.
- Angela Piazza is the team’s photojournalist, teaming up with our reporters to create powerful visuals to illustrate their stories. Her photography is featured in all of our launch stories this week.
- Alison Saldanha is the team’s data reporter, a critical contributor in every phase of this endeavor. With data, we will track our growth and progress, or lack of progress. You’ll see Saldanha’s work daily on our Future of North Texas landing page, where we have dashboards for every topic area.
Future of North Texas reporters Lana Ferguson, Aria Jones, Wilborn P. Nobles III, photographer Angela Piazza, and reporter Alison Saldanha.
Tom Fox
Beyond the core members, leaders and colleagues across the newsroom have collaborated and contributed.
Our mission is to serve North Texas. We love this community as much as you do.
We will hold elected leaders and developers accountable, draw comparisons to rapid growth in other states, and watch out for equity and fairness. We have begun and will continue a dialogue with you, to hear questions and concerns and incorporate them into our coverage.
With the Communities Foundation of Texas serving as our fiscal sponsor, The News has raised nearly $1 million toward our $2 million goal to support the journalists’ salaries and reporting expenses.
That’s in large part because so many of you care deeply about how the area is growing and you trust us to report for you with integrity, balance and fairness.
We don’t take that lightly.
In a time when fewer people trust the media, The News is working hard to show why we are deserving of your support.
This year, we started hosting monthly community listening sessions and holding events in various neighborhoods. We want you to meet us, take your measure of us and walk away feeling like we have your back.
We are planning an event this month to go into more depth on the Future of North Texas initiative and introduce the reporters and editors.
We hope to see you there. If not, maybe on the Katy Trail.
See the pillars of growth for North Texas: Addressing workforce readiness, health disparities, infrastructure, water and natural resources
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This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.