The city of Fort Worth has named its first Diversity and Inclusion Director. Christina Brooks was previously the first diversity and inclusion officer and LGBTQ liaison for the city of South Bend, Ind.
Brooks was one of six finalists brought in to interview and answer questions at a community forum last month.
She said she’d make it a priority to improve economic opportunities for the city’s underserved communities.
"When people can’t pay their electric bill, they can’t make rent and they can’t buy food, they get angry," Brooks said. "And so if we’re not addressing the economic development, the inclusive economic development of a community, then everything else is pointless."
Brooks also discussed her experience working to improve trust between South Bend’s police and communities of color, and said she'd look at improving implicit bias training for Fort Worth's officers.
She will oversee a brand-new Office of Diversity and Inclusion that has a nearly $1 million budget and includes 14 staff members from the city’s human relations office.
