A New Beginning Takes Flight: Inside the Landmark Collaboration Bringing Las Vegas Trail a One-of-a kind Community Health Care Hub

By Ashley Antle

For two decades, the residents of Las Vegas Trail (LVT) in west Fort Worth have lived in a food and health care desert. The slow decline of the area since the 1993 closing of Carswell Air Force Base—once the economic anchor of the neighborhood—made the community vulnerable to poverty and crime. As a result, access to quality health care, nutritious food sources, safe community spaces and economic stability became a thing of the past.

But the tide is turning.

Today, the new neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail area opened its doors and celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, bringing a fresh wave of safety, health and nutrition resources to Las Vegas Trail residents. The center is a first-of-its-kind partnership between JPS Health Network, Cook Children’s Health Care System, The City of Fort Worth, LVTRise and WestAid. More than just a clinic, it serves as a health care hub, connecting individuals and families to services that support every facet of well-being, from personal safety and medical care to food security, financial stability, and strong family foundations.

“This project represents a major strategic investment in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood, demonstrating our commitment to this vital part of our community,” said Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker. “The partnership between Cook Children’s, JPS, the City of Fort Worth, LVTRise, West Aid, and many others is a groundbreaking model for comprehensive community care. We are establishing a best practice here, and Fort Worth’s innovative approach will be a model for other cities.”

The Butterfly Effect

Every fall, a new batch of monarch butterflies migrates south through the heart of Texas to fir forests in central Mexico, often traversing the state along the 1-35 corridor—one of the most heavily traveled monarch highways. It is the first and only time this generation of butterflies will make the migration. Somehow, without any prior experience, they know the way, making them a unique symbol of strength, resilience and hope that guests will see reflected throughout the neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail area. From a colorful outdoor mural that greets guests as they arrive to the butterfly mobile that hangs in the lobby, the monarch and their natural habitats inspired much of the facility’s design.

“We learned through the construction research of this project that this area is actually located along the path of the monarch’s migration pattern every year,” said Veronica Tolley, Cook Children’s vice president of Primary and Specialty Services. “Most people in the community probably don’t realize this, but it’s something that we wanted to highlight, celebrate and build a sense of community pride around. It reflects that there's something unique and beautiful happening here.”

The monarch is also a reflection of how a single small action can spark lasting change. There’s a saying that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. In other words, even the smallest action can set off a chain of events that make a big impact. It’s a concept known as the “butterfly effect,” and this same principle is at work in the story of the new neighborhood health center.

It all began with the pioneering efforts of LVTRise, a non-profit dedicated to the revitalization and sustainability of the Las Vegas Trail community. The organization officially got its start in 2018 following months of talks between community members, city leaders, business owners and concerned neighbors who shared a vision for addressing the lack of health, safety, and sense of community in the area. This meeting of the minds stirred the air and ignited a movement. What began as a grass-roots effort to restore vitality to the Las Vegas Trail community rippled outward and ignited a wave of transformation, leading to the creation of the RISE Community Center in 2020, and now, the establishment of the neighborhood health center.

For Fort Worth City Councilman Michael D. Crain, the hope of a revitalized Las Vegas Trail is personal. This area isn’t just a part of his district. It’s a place filled with fond childhood memories of visiting his aunt when she lived in Las Vegas Trail during its heyday in the 80s.

“I have seen the great resiliency of the people who call Las Vegas Trail home,” Councilman Crain said. “They care about their future and that of their children. We cannot allow another generation to slip deeper into poverty. The neighborhood health center is a critical step in improving their present and protecting their future through access to desperately needed resources identified in our Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood Transformation Plan, which is full of ideas and recommendations for improvement that came straight from the residents who live there.”

The Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood Transformation Plan, a state-of-the-community report published in 2022 and shaped largely by the voices of community members, outlines the needs of the residents, gaps in community resources and ideas for the neighborhood’s renewal. This plan played a key role in shaping the vision of the new neighborhood health center and the collaborative efforts that brought it to life.

“We have dreamt of this type of project to come true and to see it actually happening is really exciting,” Tolley said. “To see the staff, the leadership and the various stakeholders throughout Cook Children’s ready to pour into this community, it feels like I’m living my dream.”

Together, We Rise

Every partner of the neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail area provides a service that supports one or more of the building blocks of health and well-being, such as safety, economic stability, health care, behavioral health counseling, and access to food and nutrition education, all in one convenient location. Together, these organizations and services make the center a one-stop shop where residents can access everything from cooking classes and a food pantry to job training, mental health services and medical care for children and adults. 

“The collaboration that has gone into this center is what truly makes it so special, and I’m really honored to say that Cook Children’s is a part of it,” said Rick Merrill, president and CEO of Cook Children’s Health Care System. “The best part is that the residents have been a huge voice and guiding light in the transformation happening there, even helping us envision and paint a beautiful mural at the new facility. Their fingerprints are all over this project, and will continue to guide how we evolve in this space to best serve them.”

Cook Children’s will provide well-child checks, sick care, childhood immunizations, pediatric behavioral health care, food and nutrition education, and assistance navigating the health care system and community resources. JPS Health Network will provide family medicine health services for adults and children, as well as behavioral health, women’s health, on-site laboratory services, social work and more. Although JPS Health Network and Cook Children’s have been Tarrant County mainstays for well over 100 years, this is the first time the two have partnered to offer comprehensive health services in one facility.

“The JPS partnership with Cook Children’s symbolizes the significance of public, private partnerships,” said Karen Duncan, M.D., M.B.A, president and CEO of JPS Health Network. “The center represents our priority to better serve our patients and the community. Together, we will provide critical health and social services to improve much-needed access in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood.”

Partners in Purpose and Progress

About 32% of Las Vegas Trail residents live below the poverty level, according to the Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood Transformation Plan. Many depend on food assistance to feed their families, such as that from WestAid Food Pantry. Now, community members can access WestAid at its new home at the neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail area.

Just steps away from the food pantry is the center’s commercial-sized demonstration kitchen, staffed full-time with a Cook Children’s dietitian. Anchored by a spacious island designed for gathering, this kitchen will host cooking classes and nutrition workshops that empower guests to prepare healthy, budget-friendly meals for themselves and their families. Together, WestAid  Food Pantry and the demonstration kitchen help connect the dots between nutrition and the role it plays in overall health and well-being.

According to the Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood Transformation Plan, roughly 1% of the City of Fort Worth’s population resides in the Las Vegas Trail area, yet it accounts for roughly 4% of the city’s crime. However, current neighborhood policing initiatives are beginning to show positive results. Both crime against people and crime against property numbers in the area are trending down, according to Sergeant A.S. Owen, Fort Worth Police Department’s West Division Lincoln District NPO. One of those initiatives is the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, a crime-prevention collaboration between the police department and apartment managers aiming to reduce crime, drugs and gangs on apartment properties. A new Fort Worth Police Storefront located at the center will serve as the home for the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, as well as a space for West Division officers to complete reports and regroup between patrols.

Several other community resources and businesses play a role in supporting the programs and care that will be provided at the neighborhood health center. 

Tarrant County College will lead an on-site workforce development program designed to give residents a pathway into the job market, including employment opportunities at Cook Children’s Health Care System and JPS Health Network. Funding from Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County will provide support services, such as paid internship opportunities, and childcare and transportation assistance for individuals in the workforce development program. Several local organizations will provide instruction in the center’s demonstration kitchen, as well as community health education classes and resources.

Nurturing Neighborhoods

With the opening of the neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail area, Cook Children’s now has nine neighborhood health centers throughout Tarrant County. Each is located in areas where residents are met with multiple barriers to accessing care, including limited transportation, food insecurity, language or literacy barriers, and a lack of awareness of available resources and how to navigate them. These neighborhood health centers serve as primary health care homes for children, as well as access points to broader specialty services within Cook Children’s Health Care System.

Many of those who visit a Cook Children’s Neighborhood Health Center depend on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for health care coverage, including thousands in the Las Vegas Trail area. A little more than 40% of Las Vegas Trail area residents rely on public health insurance, with another quarter having no health insurance at all, according to the Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood Transformation Plan.

In 2024, children in this neighborhood accounted for more than 4,000 visits to Cook Children’s Emergency Department and Urgent Care Centers for primary health care needs, not emergencies or urgent situations. An additional 7,000 visits were made to Cook Children’s other neighborhood health center locations, none of which are easily accessible from Las Vegas Trail.

Now, these children and families have a place to call their health care home, with services tailored to the community’s unique needs.

“Cook Children’s Health Plan covers close to 6,000 children and pregnant women with Medicaid or CHIP in the Las Vegas Trail community,” said Karen Love, president of Cook Children’s Health Plan. “For so long, this area has been a health care desert. Our members have had to travel outside of their neighborhood, sometimes taking multiple buses to get to a medical appointment. So the investment of bringing that care close to them is what I’m most excited about.”

Because so many Cook Children’s Health Plan members live in the area, the health plan will have staff on-site to help connect members with Medicaid services. For the first time, the health plan will house a dedicated community health worker at the center to assist both health plan members and non-members in navigating the health care system, social services and community resources.

“Most of our interactions today with our members are over the phone, but many of these families have lots of things going on in their lives and sometimes they need the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with somebody and talk through their needs and concerns,” Love said.

30 Days of Wellness

To help residents feel at home and discover all that the neighborhood’s new health hub has to offer, on Aug. 6, the center will kick off 30 Days of Wellness—a month-long celebration of community, connection and care. Every weekday through Sept. 5, visitors will find hands-on demos, health screenings, safety workshops, nutrition classes and more, all hosted by Cook Children’s and trusted local partners.

Programming includes diabetes education, parenting tips and tools, art activities for children, assistance applying for Medicaid and CHIP benefits as well as the JPS Connection program, substance abuse and mental health resources, nutrition education, oral health information and more. Click here for a calendar and complete list of daily activities.

You can learn more about the new center and its services, classes and events on Cook Children’s website.