A new networking program aims to connect Fort Worth’s nonprofit and for-profit real estate developers with financial capital to build more affordable housing units. The Community Developers Roundtable, launched in Dallas in 2022, provides developers with access to capital, peer learning and strategic support. Organizers of Fort Worth’s roundtable hope to replicate the success it had in Dallas, which resulted in nearly $125 million in development activities. That included 39 housing units built and more than $1.7 million in predevelopment and construction loans provided by financial partner BCL of Texas. Organizers said they want to increase affordable housing and community-based amenities to revitalize neighborhoods through real estate projects. The nine-month program launched with a public presentation at Texas Wesleyan University on Aug. 28, Maggie Parker, founder of Innovan Neighborhoods and the Community Developers Roundtable program, said the two-year Dallas pilot program equipped about two dozen local developers with resources, networks and capital to drive lasting impact. “The Fort Worth expansion is about championing and empowering developers who understand the context of their neighborhoods, making them best positioned to build, revitalize and reinvigorate the places they call home, which contributes to the economic vitality of Fort Worth,” Parker said. 

The Fort Worth program of the Community Developers Roundtable is officially underway. Learn how the cohort will empower local real estate leaders with capital and training to build stronger, more equitable neighborhoods.