This Fort Worth community is working to improve residents’ health. It needs your help | Opinion

People who live in Fort Worth’s 76104 ZIP code have the lowest life expectancy in the entire state of Texas: 67 years. At least 30% of the population is Black, and Black men in the area have the same average life expectancy as in Rwanda: 64 years.

The current reality is that where you live in Texas can heavily determine how long you live. In 76104, there is no grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office or clinic. No wonder decades of life are being stolen from the residents — they have no reasonably achievable way to live a healthy life.

They are dying younger than anywhere else in Texas not because of crime, as has often been the narrative. Instead, as outlined in a Star-Telegram investigation in 2020, they face overwhelming and destructive health inequities including poverty, systemic racism and no access to prevention tools.

They are dealing with extreme consequences of preventable diseases, such as diabetes, lung and heart disease, because they have no resources to address their health before they get to the doctor’s office. And if they do eventually see a physician, it’s often too late.

It’s Time Texas, a preventive health organization that works directly with communities to build health resources for residents and whose CEO is a co-author of this column, notes that varying life expectancies up to 30 years between Texas communities isn’t new. But it is unacceptable. If communities are equipped with accessible prevention resources such as stores that sell healthy food, safe green spaces, civic engagement opportunities and adequate health education, healthier outcomes will follow.

The community of 76104 is not waiting for handouts. Led by the Rev. Kyev Tatum Sr., a local pastor and community leader who is a co-author of this column, they have already started to build a healthier neighborhood.

The Morningside Promise Zone, designed by Tatum and Dr. Mark Cunningham of the UNT Health Science Center, takes inspiration from the highly successful Harlem Children’s Zone. It sets local youth up for a brighter, healthier future. It makes sure they have access to mental health programs, physical health screenings and educational materials, nutrition from a food bank, tutoring for school, leadership workshops and clinics on budgeting, home ownership, entrepreneurship.

It is a solution uniquely designed by residents for residents. This is the most efficient model for true change according to It’s Time Texas, which advises that health-related strategies be informed and implemented by local leaders who intimately know their communities’ challenges.

But keeping the doors open to the Morningside Promise Zone is impossible without support from neighbors. Currently, it can’t even afford to create a website to spread the word.

Located just a few miles away from award-winning medical facilities, where healthcare professionals save and extend lives every day, 76104 is perhaps the most painful depiction of health inequities in all of Texas. Even Tatum’s personal story is a reflection of the injustice and grief health inequities bring. In his family of 11, he is one of only four still living. No one has lived past age 64 because of preventable health diseases.

ZIP code 76104 may not be your neighborhood, but it is part of our city. It’s time we stop ignoring the suffering next door. It’s time we challenge our usual assumptions of why a community is disadvantaged. It’s time we become health champions, not just for ourselves, but for others.

If the injustices and deaths in 76104 shock you (and they should), take a morning to visit with the Morningside Promise Zone Coalition. The group meets at 11 a.m. Thursdays at New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, 2864 Mississippi Ave. in Fort Worth. Neighbors are welcome to learn about the community’s struggles and be part of the solutions.

In these Thursday meetings, you’ll find an abundance of hope but a lack of resources. How will you step up using your own talents, treasures and time?

Jamie Williams is chief executive of It’s Time Texas, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help communities improve residents’ health. The Rev. Kyev Tatum Sr. is pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth.