Community Design | Fort Worth, a nonprofit organization with a mission to enhance the quality of life in Fort Worth communities, announced it has named Ann Zadeh, AICP, as Executive Director of the organization. Zadeh is an urban planner, community advocate, and most recently the Fort Worth City Council Representative for District 9. Community Design | Fort Worth is a five-year-old nonprofit organization which provides supplemental design and planning assistance for public and private entities engaged in the design and planning of urban projects, such as the current redesign of University Drive in Fort Worth. Community Design | Fort Worth also provides seminars on design and planning issues and is engaged in long-term visioning in anticipation of future challenges facing Fort Worth. Community Design Fort Worth's main purpose is to engage the public to create a more inclusive and equitable city and to discover and help implement planning and design ideas and concepts not initially addressed by either the public or private sector.
This announcement comes on the heels of an earlier announcement of five new members to Community Design | Fort Worth 2021 board, increasing the board to 17 directors. The new members are: Onyinye Akujuo of the JPS Foundation, Teresa Ayala of Texas Health Resource, Frank Shiels of Frost Bank, Dr. Joowon Im of University of Texas at Arlington, and Lorie Kinler of Redenta’s Garden and the DFW Section of The Texas Chapter of the American Society Landscape Architects. Continuing board members are: Brad Lonberger (chair) of Places Strategies; Randle Harwood (vice chair), community advocate; Joel Burns (past chair), community advocate; Michael Bennett (design chair) of Bennett Partners; Mike Brennan of Near Southside, Inc.; Dennis Chiessa of the University of Texas at Arlington; DJ Harrell of the City of Fort Worth; Randy Hutcheson of the City of Fort Worth; Melissa Konur (board treasurer) of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.; Alesha Niedziela of the American Institute of Architects - Fort Worth; Donna VanNess (board secretary) of the Housing Channel; and Jeff Whitacre of Kimley-Horn and The Midwest Section of the American Planning Association - Texas Chapter. For more information and opportunities to participate in this meaningful work visit- https://www.designfortworth.org/