We need your help to continue important coverage in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
If you’re a regular reader of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, you’ve no doubt read stories from our Crossroads Lab.
The Lab, which includes five full-time reporters, was formed about three years ago and is funded through community and philanthropic partnerships. The goal is to expand local journalism and community engagement around important but historically under-covered issues related to education, early childhood, health, racial equity, business/economic development and more.
We chose the name “Crossroads Lab” because we know that as Fort Worth continues to grow, it will face not just a singular fork in the road but many crossroads. Those crossroads will involve challenges to be tackled and opportunities to be taken advantage of — all of which will affect the future of our community.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram — and its Crossroads Lab — want to be a strong voice as we navigate that path forward.
The Lab’s work has already made Fort Worth better. Our watchdog reporting has pressured the school system to provide Wi-Fi access to students in under-served neighborhoods. We have called out a lack of books in school libraries and highlighted areas where our community must improve to better foster entrepreneurship. We have shined light on inequities in areas such as housing and education and explored questions about environmental racism.
In the past year, the Crossroads Lab has impacted our community with work like this:
A story that exposed a disconnect between Texas school testing that shows many students are failing and the glowing report cards that lull parents into a false sense of security.
A story that explored Fort Worth’s plans for a new $700 million convention center.
A story that showed the deadly effects of summer heat on those experiencing homelessness in Fort Worth as well as vulnerable people who died in their homes.
We know our community needs more local news. But today’s marketplace realities limit the depth and breadth of our journalism. To continue the expanded coverage provided by the Crossroads Lab, we need your help.
I ask that you please consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us better serve the Fort Worth region through the work of the Crossroads Lab. Gifts of any size make a difference.
You may donate at star-telegram.com/donate. Or, if you prefer to send a check, make it out to Journalism Funding Partners, please put Fort Worth in the memo line, and mail it to 1601 Alhambra Blvd., Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95816. Please include your email address.
Your support of the Crossroads Lab helps continue its mission to raise awareness and community engagement around the challenges and opportunities that are critical to the future of our community. Thank you for being an essential part of that mission.
