February 21, 2025
Fortress Restructuring Statement
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Earlier this week we issued a press release announcing that Fortress would be closing its doors on February 27th after more than 20 years of serving Fort Worth’s Historic Southside neighborhood. You may have seen the resulting article in the Fort Worth Report, which was shared widely by our friends, supporters, and the Fort Worth community at large.
Today, we are overjoyed to share a new and hopeful update: thanks to the extraordinary generosity of two long-time foundation partners, Fortress has the funding to continue operating uninterrupted through the end of the school year.
This incredible gift not only bridges our immediate financial gap but also provides the much-needed time to thoughtfully restructure our operating and funding models to ensure long-term sustainability beyond this school year. We are deeply grateful for this lifeline and the opportunity to continue serving our families and community.
How We Got Here
Many of you have asked how we reached this critical juncture, and we want to be transparent about the challenges we’ve faced.
In 2021 and 2022, we carefully accepted federal COVID relief funds to expand our programs, helping families in our community get back to work during an incredibly difficult time. To maintain this expanded capacity, we pursued and received Texas Rising Star 4-Star accreditation, a rigorous process that would allow us to accept Child Care Management Services (CCMS), the state childcare subsidy for Tarrant County.
As Fortress made these shifts, we were informed that abundant CCMS funding would continue to support working families, and much of our sustainability plan was built around these CCMS funds. Unfortunately, Texas legislators have failed to make the necessary investments to ensure qualifying families can receive the support they need. Over two years later, more than 20,000 Tarrant County children remain on the waiting list. Despite our planning and patience, only 3% of Fortress families ever received the subsidy.
Fortress has always operated on the belief that childcare costs should never be the barrier that prevents low-wage earners from upward mobility. In line with our mission of “building bridges from poverty to promise,” we’ve offered free programs and, in lieu of tuition, invited parents to invest in their family’s growth through education, personal development, and community engagement.
When it became clear in September 2024 that the CCMS funding delays would persist, our Board of Directors made the strategic decision to allow up to 30% of our enrollment slots to be filled by private-pay students, creating an alternative revenue stream to help sustain our mission. We spread the word far and wide, but we quickly realized that our four-day model was a challenge for working families with five-day schedules. Our long-term plan was to shift to a five-day model for the 2025-26 school year, but we simply ran out of time.
An emergency fundraising campaign in November 2024 helped close some gaps, and we remained hopeful that the Texas Legislature would prioritize working families in the new year. Unfortunately, that funding still has not materialized, and the delays continue to persist. At the same time, private funding sources are dwindling due to shifting economic and political climates, pushing our already strained budget to its breaking point.
A New Chapter of Hope
Fortress has long been a vital part of Fort Worth’s Historic Southside, and the philanthropic community, led by our faithful partners at the Rainwater Foundation, recognized the tremendous loss our closure would mean for local families. Their unwavering support has made it possible for us to keep our doors open and begin the hard but necessary work of restructuring for long-term sustainability. Over the coming months, we will be working closely with our Board, staff, and community partners to develop a funding and operations model that will ensure Fortress can continue serving children and families for many years to come. Our newly formed Sustainability Committee has already moved to implement a 5-day operations model effective Monday, March 3.
We are deeply moved by the support, generosity, and encouragement we have received during this challenging time. Thank you for believing in our mission, standing with us, and helping us continue the important work of “building bridges from poverty to promise.”
In the meantime, your support matters more than ever before. You have asked, “What could we have done to prevent this?” There are six important ways you can be a part of sustaining us moving forward:
Become a Friend of Fortress with a sustaining monthly gift. These donors are the backbone of our budget and allow us to plan for the future!
Make a one-time gift to support the costs associated with opening five days a week.
Mark your calendar for Monday, February 24, when tickets go sale for our 15th Annual StoryLand Dinner and Auction to be held at the Ashton Depot on Saturday, March 29, 2025.
Invite families with young children you know to enroll in our programs, helping us fill out the 30% of slots reserved for private pay enrollment. Enrolling at Fortress is a great way for Fort Worthians to support our mission while ensuring that their own children receive the highest quality early childhood education possible!
Sign up to volunteer in our programs, providing additional support to our staff and students in our classrooms or behind-the-scenes.
Call your state representatives and senators, and express your support for legislation that creates greater sustainability for Fortress and hundreds of centers like ours across the state, including HB 2294, HB 460, SB 171, SB 462, and SB 972. Urge them to introduce legislation to increase the state’s allocation of funds to CCS and other programs providing support for working families to access child care.
With deep gratitude,
Stacy Agee Martin
Executive Director
stacy@fortressfw.org
817.335.1007 x105
fortressfw.org