Center for Transforming Lives and University of Texas at Arlington Host Nonprofit Executives, Foundation Leaders and Academic Experts in Response to $127 Million Funding Loss
Leaders from more than a dozen of Tarrant County’s largest nonprofits are forging a new path together following the inaugural ‘Reimagining Together’ summit. On Friday, Oct. 17, the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Social Work led a day-long retreat at Center for Transforming Lives for nonprofit CEOs and foundation funders to address the growing disruption facing North Texas social service organizations. The event comes as North Texas nonprofits lost an estimated $127 million in funding during the first half of 2025, with $71.6 million in federal money lost primarily through canceled or delayed federal contracts and grants. The losses have mostly impacted nonprofits that provide social services, education programs for children, housing services for the homeless and meals for the elderly and homebound.
“Nonprofits are a vital part of our local community and economy,” said Carol Klocek, CEO of Center for Transforming Lives. “We’re employing people, deploying resources and creating as much stability in our community as we can. The risk right now is that as the nonprofit community is destabilized, it further destabilizes Fort Worth.” The summit emerged from summer conversations between nonprofit executives, UTA President Jennifer Cowley and community leaders about strengthening partnerships during this critical moment. Rather than viewing current challenges as insurmountable obstacles, the gathering reframed the disruption as an opportunity to innovate and reimagine how social services are delivered across Tarrant County.
“This is not a ‘one and done’ conversation. All of us in the room have to commit to this being the first of an ongoing conversation that seeks to radically transform the system,” said Kirk A. Foster, Ph.D., MSW, MDiv, Dean of the School of Social Work at UTA. “The rules around how we work have changed and we can use this as an amazing opportunity to rethink how we do what we do.” UTA’s School of Social Work, the largest in Texas with 2,300 students across multiple degree programs, is uniquely positioned to serve as a neutral convener and catalyst for community change. Under Dean Foster’s leadership, the School of Social Work is hoping to fill the convening gap left when previous collaborative infrastructures dissolved.
During the day-long summit, participants identified several high-priority initiatives including expanding closed-loop referral systems allowing broader coordination across agencies, adoption of generative AI tools to streamline work and expanding business community involvement. With more disruption expected over the coming years, the group also discussed the strategic consolidation of aligned organizations to help preserve smaller nonprofits that may not be able to weather the coming changes otherwise. “We have really high quality nonprofits here in Fort Worth doing really good work,” said Klocek. “We’re proactively thinking about six months, a year, five years down the line, solving not just for the problems of today, but the problems of tomorrow. We’re committed to collaboration because we know we’re stronger when we’re together.”
Attendees of Friday’s summit included ACH Child and Family Services, Boys and Girls Club of Tarrant County, Catholic Charities, CTL, Lena Pope, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, Tarrant Area Food Bank, Tarrant County Homeless Coalition/Partnership Home, Tarrant County Public Health, among others.
