Southwest

Travis County, Texas's fifth largest county, faces many climate emergencies and weather hazards. The frequency of 100-degree days has doubled in the last 40 years, and extreme rainfall, flooding, and drought risks have escalated. These climate hazards threaten all residents, particularly low-income families, older adults, and non-English speakers. The county's... Read more

Fort Worth, Texas, faces challenges from rapid growth and development, resulting in the loss of 50 acres of open space each week and increased flood risks. The City has launched the Open Space Conservation Program and partnered with FUSE to analyze and benchmark riparian corridor preservation regulations to address this.... Read more

The City of Albuquerque is working towards addressing climate change, equity, resilience, and sustainability through various initiatives. However, there is still a significant amount of work to be done. One area of focus is the potential impact of widespread composting, which is highlighted in both the Food & Agriculture Action... Read more

The Harris County Public Library system in Texas faces the challenge of accommodating a diverse immigrant population that makes up over one-quarter of the county's total population. To address this, the Library is partnering with FUSE to develop a strategy for expanding programming and services for immigrants, focusing on facilitating... Read more

In the past decade, the City of Austin, TX has experienced climate change in the form of record-breaking heat, droughts, historic floods, severe winter storms, and devastating wildfires that have taken lives, displaced community members, and stressed infrastructure. In 2021, Austin’s City Council passed a Resolution to begin building a... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long-seated issues with connectivity in Texas, with almost 900,000 residents lacking broadband internet access across the state. In Central Texas, over 37,000 students are without the high-speed internet needed for online learning, and over 50,000 residents in Austin alone do not have use of the... Read more

Small businesses and entrepreneurs, who comprise the heart of the American economy, continue to face challenges arising from the pandemic – predominantly minority-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs of color. Small businesses owned by people of color already face systemic barriers to accessing financing and business resources and are more likely... Read more

In the City of Austin, homelessness is a persistent reality that has amounted to a humanitarian challenge. Lack of affordable housing and healthcare, trauma and abuse, and racial inequities are all leading causes of homelessness in Austin. An estimated 9,000 residents in the Austin/Travis County area experience homelessness each year,... Read more

In spring 2021, city leaders facilitated the first Summit to Address Unsheltered Homelessness in Austin – the purpose of the summit was to develop an implementation strategy to effectively and significantly reduce unsheltered homelessness in the city. In the next three years local leaders are determined to rehouse 3000 people... Read more

The Travis County District Attorney (DA) is at the forefront of efforts to dismantle our nation’s endemic over-reliance on incarceration and reimagine and reconceptualize local systems of justice permanently. In just the last few months, the County and DA have worked to bring the jail population down by about 300... Read more