fwbn2017 aprilanniversaryissuedfwblacknews.com/assets/fwbn2017_aprilanniversaryissue.pdf2004...

Dear Readers, Advertisers, Family & Friends,

Let me first extend the warmest, heartfelt, Texas-sized Thank You for your support. What a journey! It’s hard to believe 20 years have passed, almost half of my lifetime here on earth. As you may remember we started Fort Worth Black News when I was 23 years-old, finding my own way in the world. This newspaper, you and I have grown up together. With-out many of you, who knows the person I would have become.

Publishing this newspaper and sticking with the community has enriched me in ways incomprehensi-ble. I have been touched by your stories, moved by your experiences and inspired through our interactions - when the original intention was to simply inform and inspire you. Each of you have been my gift, causing me to understand and increase in capacity to serve. I remember and appreciate all of it. Let’s start the next 20!

Sincerely, Jill Darden Fort Worth Black News Publisher & Founder

FORT WORTH BLACK NEWS • APRIL 2017 • PAGE 2 • www.dfwblacknews.com

"Inspiring & Uplifting Communities through the Arts!”

[email protected]

from 619 Productions, Inc.

A 501c3 Charitable Arts Organization

Congratulations

Fort Worth Black News & Jill Darden

for 20 Excellent Years!

Future Christian Outreach Miracle Center Church

Fort Worth, Texas

Rose M. King, Senior Pastor Jamil R. King, Asst. Pastor

Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans.

Proverbs 16:3

Congratulations Fort Worth Black News

On your 20th Anniversary in Business

Letter from the Publisher

Chris Lott - mother, Minister Andre Reed , Ginger Dar-den, Columnist Maricia Johns, Judy Shivers, Sports Editor

Nelson Rowls, Jill Darden & brother Daniel Darden

Darden got the newspaper business in her blood at the age of 10, selling

papers door-to-door in Wichita Falls, Texas for her mother who published

Wichita Falls Black News. As a teen-ager she became managing editor of

her high school newspaper.

1996 Jill Darden graduated from the UT Arlington with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism.

1997 At the age of 23, Darden re-

turned home to Fort Worth with a decision to use her col-lege education to contribute to the community that gave her roots. She launched the first issue of Fort Worth Black News in May 1997 with the help of her mother, Chris Lott.

1999 In an unprecedented move, the Fort Worth Black News Tele vision Show was launched on

Fort Worth Cable. Programs were based on content from the newspaper. The show ran for five years. During the show’s run, Darden won the first place Paul R. Ellis Media Award from the American Heart Association for the story, “Search Your Heart.”

2000 Fort Worth Black News pub-lishes first book written by Jill Darden and Michael Guinn, creating a Book Publishing Service for other independent authors.

2002 Darden’s mother expands to Grand Prairie, launching Grand Prairie Black News.

2004 Television show becomes The Urban Voice and moves to Urban American Television Network, where Darden inter-viewed many noteworthy Afri-can-Americans including

Oprah Winfrey, Earl Graves, Dennis Kimbro , Attorney Johnny Cochran & Julian Bond.

2006 Darden’s mother passes away - an integral part of the business and best friend to the pub-lisher, but she presses on knowing her mother wouldn’t have it any other way.

2007 Darden reaches a personal

milestone, becoming a mother to son Jiles.

2008 Darden expands business to include publishing news for municipalities with Forest Hill News.

2012 Darden contracted with the Fort Worth Black Chamber of Commerce to assist with mar-keting & sales.

2017 Fort Worth Black News reaches 20-year milestone.

Milestones:

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Call 817-729-6491 or email: [email protected]


Fort Worth ISD’s Coach Robert Hughes, Sr., the nation’s all-time winningest high school boys basket-ball coach, has been named to the 2017 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Naismith Basket-ball Hall of Fame honors international and Ameri-can professionals, as well as American and interna-tional amateurs, and is described as the most comprehensive Hall of Fame among major sports.

Robert Hughes Sr. coached high school basketball for 47 years in the Fort Worth ISD and ranks first on the all-time winning list for boys’ high school coaches. He led his Dunbar High School and, before that, I.M. Terrell High School teams to 35 District championships and five state championships. His overall high school coaching record is 1,333-247 (.844)

“Congratulations to Coach

Hughes, Sr. on this well-deserved honor,” said Superintendent Kent P. Scribner. “In an era where the term ‘legendary’ is overused, Coach

Hughes, Sr. truly meets and exceeds the definition of the word. He has led and inspired generations of Fort Worth students, their families, and the entire community, and continues to do so with his record of excellence.” Coach Hughes also served as head coach of the

McDonald’s All-America Game West team in 2001. He was named the NHSCA National High School Coach of the Year in 2003 and was recipient of the Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Coach Hughes has been inducted into the Texas Basketball Hall of Fame (1993) and High School Bas-ketball Hall of Fame (2003).

1111 East Berry Street Fort Worth, Texas

76110

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Fort Worth Black News Established 1997

Jill Darden, Publisher & Founder

Contributing Writers:

Maricia Johns, Community Nelson Rowls, Sports Editor

Terry Allen, Business Atty Lester Rushin, Columnist

Ken Carter, Fine Arts Regis Fontenot, Relationships

Justin & Jiles, Children’s Section

www.dfwblacknews.com Email: [email protected]

To Advertise: Call 817-729-6491

Our mission is to inform and inspire readers through reports from the community.

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Lillie Biggins Receives the Phoenix Award after Rising from Housekeeper to President of a Major Fort Worth Hospital

Lillie Biggins at podium, presented with award by Gwen Barbee, STC Chair

After Lillie Biggins delivered an empowering speech during Women’s History Month, she was surprised to the point of tears with the Phoenix Award. Presented at the South Tarrant Cham-ber luncheon by Gwen Barbee, the award honored her rise from house-keeper at John Peter Smith Hospital to President of Texas Health Harris Hos-pital in Fort Worth.

“For those of you who think you can’t do it, you can. You’ve got to be persistent,” said Barbee as she intro-duced Biggins. “Lillie cleaned floors everyday and went to nursing school at night. She broke the glass ceiling and is no loner a hidden figure.”

As Biggins began her speech she reflected on all of the responsibilities that women are expected to fulfill, in-cluding cleaning, washing, cooking, raising children and helping their mates.

“I had to raise my four grandchil-dren,” she shared. “God is faithful and will never give you more than you can bear - he is faithful.”

She went on to urge the women in the audience to find their purpose in life, instructing that the “best way to

find it, is by losing yourself helping others.”

Before taking her seat, she shared a list of valuable lessons learned over years. Some insight included:

♦ Live life for what is ahead, not behind.

♦ Growth happens in all of us, as long as we have good roots.

♦ Learn how to work hard, be honest and do the right thing every time.

♦ Where excellence is expected, growth occurs.

♦ I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. God developed my character by letting me have that housekeeping job.

♦ Learn how to get yourself back on track because there will be people who don’t care if you get back on track or not.

♦ Never give up on your dreams. If your dreams are dormant, put some accelerant on it.”


By Yolanda Harper

With the latest craze of using electronic devices like pedometers, Fitbits, or apps that track your steps, more people are moving natu-rally. And by this I mean,

getting outside and finding ways to meet or exceed the minimum 10,000 steps a day. According to www.thewalkingsite.com, 10,000 steps a day is the general recommen-dation, which is a pretty good goal for an average person; a sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day.

WALKING! Yes, walking is the best and least expensive way to maintain a healthy heart. It can also: reduce your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke; improve blood pressure, blood sugar levels and blood lipid profile; maintain body weight and lower the risk of obesity; enhance mental well-being; reduce the risk of osteoporosis and breast and colon cancer; and reduce the risk of non-insulin dependent diabetes. There are so many benefits to this simple exercise!

Here are a few ways you can increase your daily steps:

• Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend

• Walk the dog • Use the stairs instead of the eleva-

tor • Park farther from the store • Better yet, walk to the store • Get up to change the channel • Window shop • Plan a walking meeting • Walk over to visit a neighbor • Get outside to walk around the

garden or do a little weeding Use your imagination to develop your own list. I like to park farther at the grocery store and mall, and I always try to take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you are in-terested in sharing your “moving naturally” pictures with us, post them to social media with #BZPFW. And as always, please reach out to me with any questions at [email protected].


Local human resources expert, Kendra Tyler, manages a national effort to bring a major retail brand to DFW metroplex. Louis Vuitton will be open-ing its first Client Service Center in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Louis Vuit-ton Client Service center is meant to pro-vide support, answer client and consumer inquiries, and provide an exceptional experience with the Louis Vuitton Lux-ury brand.

FWBN Columnist, Terry Allen re-cently spoke with Tyler, a Dallas native, who currently serves as the Human Re-source Manager of the Louis Vuitton Client Service Center in Irving, Texas. Kendra attended local Dallas high school, Justin F. Kimball, and later attended Dil-lard University in New Orleans, Louisi-ana. She later received her MBA from Northwood University in 2013 and re-ceived Cum Laude honors. Through her 18 years of service as a human resources professional, Kendra has learned the im-portance of giving back while also re-membering to pay it forward. Check out the interview below.

What is your vision for your job? My current vision as a Human Resources Manager is to staff the Dallas Client Ser-vice center with a diverse candidate pool who can grow to serve as leaders within not only the luxury brand, but the com-munity as well. Through targeting millen-nials who I believe can help to bridge the professional gap between generations, I’ve learned to recognize the importance of giving young professionals an oppor-tunity to showcase their potential.

What makes you stand out from

other HR professionals? I refuse to be-lieve HR is just Black-and-white. Some-times it can also be grey and when that grey arrives, it is imperative to resolve the issue with consistency in mind. By trying to create a fun and fashionable work environment at the CSC, I hope that it will encourage an atmosphere that Ad-visors and employees develop a passion for their career – I feel as though we should love our professions so much, it does not feel like work!

What do you do outside of LV that contributes to work/life balance? Work balance for me comes from giving back to my community. I enjoy giving back any way that I can. I am very active in my church, CBC – Church of the Blood Covenant , Dallas, Texas. It is a small church in Oak Cliff, but we are always trying to better our community. For ex-ample last year we fed 250 families for Thanksgiving. I headed up that ministry for 2015.

What have you volunteered for in the past? Feeding the hungry is my pas-sion. I volunteer anytime that I can. Homeless is a problem that plagues our nation. My mother headed up that ministry at our church when I was grow-ing up so I have kept it going in my own church.

What can we tell our readers about you that they would not know? I find leisure in watching sports - my chil-dren have played every sport in the book and I had to get familiar over the years; now I enjoy watching college football, basketball and baseball. Also one fact that I am extremely proud of is growing up in Dallas (Oak Cliff) and continuing to give back to my community any way that I can.

Kendra is a devoted wife to Captain Dy-ron Tyler of Dallas Fire & Rescue – they have four children Desiree Tyler (24) Tyron Tyler (22) Royce West III (17) and Ryan W. West (15). She will serve as a celebrity taster at ww.citymencook.com in June.

Shares her philosophy of finding balance in work & life


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Fort Worth Black News - P.O. Box 121961 - Fort Worth, Texas 76121

Call 817-729-6491to sign up via phone.

Dr. Sheryl H. Oliverez, Denise Kahn and Tif-fany Pace Whitaker served as panelists in the field of education during Women’s History Month at Fort Worth Minority Leaders and Citizens Council. The three successful ladies represented higher education, secondary educa-tion and early childhood. Each week during March, the organization recognized deserving local female leaders.

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by Terry Allen FWBN Columnist

Forget chicken soup, Recognition is good for the soul.

Rule #1 Recognition is good for the soul. Raise your hand if you believe me! And if you do not believe that recognition is good for the soul, then do me a big favor, stop by a florist or grocer and grab a simple bunch of flowers – roses preferably! Go to your favorite restaurant. Identify several employees. Tell all of them that you recog-nize that you that you are one of the best employees here and hand them the rose. If you do not receive increased attention and if you do not also feel better than you did pre-vious visit then your next lunch is on me.

Rule #2 Recognition jumpstarts inspira-tion. Giving someone tangible recognition such as a rose, certificate, trophy and or ceremony creates a base of inspiration for yourself. You will begin to raise your own bar once you have been recognized or rec-

ognized someone in your network. Once you have been told you are the best speech writer, you will begin to focus on producing more speeches. I guarantee that!

Rule#3 Recognition is a game changer. When you recognize someone and/or you are recognized for the milestone, impact or legacy of your work, then you elevate the quality of your world. You raise the expec-tations of everyone in your network. You begin to set standards for everyone in your path. Your stakeholders begin to strive to achieve or exceed the same standards.

Rule # 4 Recognition loves Company. They say that misery loves company. I stand to replace that statement with. When you recognize more than one person, not just the first or the best, then you create a climate of good that makes everyone say, “Look where I landed and now I will strive to be the first or best for next year.”

Read Terry Allen’s complete article online at www.dfwblacknews.com

Tarrant County Black Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc. and Lenora Rolla Heritage Museum 40th Anniversary Celebration

Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 2 p.m. Tarrant County College - Trinity River Campus Café

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Work! Work! Work! is the message newly hired Eastern Hills Head Boys Bas-ketball Coach Senecca Wall Sr. continued to preach in his first season at the helm. East-

ern Hills Boys Basketball program for many years seemed to under achieve the expectations of many alumni and fans. The school has always in the opinions of many Fort Worth residents, had a collection of great basketball talent walk-ing the hallways. Although, several student-athletes from Eastern Hills district feeder schools would forgo enrolling in their home school to attend schools such as Paul Lawrence

Dunbar and private schools in the area that had a more rich tradition in winning on the hardwood. Coach Wall, a ‘97 graduate of Eastern Hills un-derstood the frustration of Highlander nation.

“When I played, we the players would al-ways hear citizens who followed high school basketball make comments such as, “Y ’all won’t win district cause y ‘all can’t beat Dun-bar; or y’all need a new coach! This was ex-tremely frustrating to listen to,” Coach Wall said. “My first goal when I was appointed to head coach was to immediately work on the im-age in which the community and the surround-ing area viewed our team.”

He added, “My staff and I started a new slo-gan campaign hashtag, The New Hills - #TheNewHills. This was not to discredit the hard work that former Head Coaches Felly Donaldson and Frank Baily contributed to the

program. I just felt we needed to generate some interest in plant-ing new seeds for the program.” Eastern Hill Boys Basketball program prior to the 2016-2017 season was (5-18) (1-12) with only one district win. This sea-son the Highlanders finished the season (21-8) (13-1) and were crowned District 8-5A champi-ons. Key returning players to the success of the team where senior guard Miguel Encarnacion, sen-ior guard Byron Hobbs, captain Nathon Maloy and senior Tamar Jeffery. The Highlanders ad-vanced to the Region I semifi-nals in Snyder, Texas by defeat-ing Fort Worth Arlington Heights, Denton, and Fort Worth Chisholm Trail to play the num-ber #14 ranked team in Class 5A, El Paso Burges. The Highlander’s played a gritty and tough game against El

Paso Burges but fell in defeat 78-66. Coach Wall in a post-game statement, “It was special for me to come back and really enjoy the ride with these guys. We did so much for our com-munity, for our school and for the city of Fort Worth. I told them to cherish it because times like this don’t come around a lot.”

Eastern Hills Boys Basketball program cer-tainly captured the attention of many this past season, and has definitely left the Meadow-brook/Woodhaven community, alumni, and fans waiting to witness the next chapter in 2017-2018. Congratulations to Coach Senecca Wall Sr. and staff for a dynamic season.

If you have a story you would like for me to cover please feel free to email me at

[email protected]


New Eastern Hills Head Coach Leads Team to District Championship

By Nelson Rowls FWBN Sports Editor

Coach Senecca Wall Jr. and the Eastern Hills Boys Basketball 2017 District Champions pose for a season victory photograph


506 Main Street Downtown Fort Worth

Box Office: 817-338-4411 Box Office Hours: Tuesday - Friday

12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and one hour before each performance. www.JubileeTheatre.org

Jubilee Theatre Presents

August Wilson’s Two Trains Running

March 17 – April 16, 2017

Directed by William (Bill) Earl Ray

If you recently saw the Hit Movie

“Fences,” based on the play by Au-gust Wilson… you met Troy, Rose and Cory – a family desperate for happiness in the “Hill District” of Pittsburgh in 1957.

Jubilee Theatre invites you back to that same Pittsburgh neighbor-hood.

The year is 1969, the place is the local diner, that’s about to be torn down.

So come back to the “Hill Dis-trict” for a story about the people, who are struggling to hold on to the one thing they all still have… each other!

The Story The civil rights movement is sweep-ing across Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1969 and Memphis Lee’s diner is scheduled to be torn down, a casualty of the city’s renovation project. Struggling to cope with a rapidly changing world, Memphis and the diner regulars fight to hang on to their solidarity and sense of commu-nity. From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson comes this masterpiece about everyday lives in the shadow of great events, and the unsung men and women who are anything but ordinary.

The Cast A talented cast of 6 men, portraying various characters and Risa, the wait-ress in the diner, form the cast of characters. Marcus Malden, Laur-ence Pete and Alonso Waller, return for this production having performed other characters in previous produc-tions by August Wilson on the Jubi-lee stage. Jubilee favorite, Oris Phil-lips returns for this production and three other actors make their Jubilee Theatre debut in Two Trains Run-ning.

The Director

Having previously performed and directed August Wilson Plays around the country, Jubilee Theatre Artistic Director William (Bill) Earl Ray is thrilled to direct Two Trains Running for the first time. Other directorial efforts by Mr. Ray at Jubilee Theatre include Seven Guitars, Working-The Musical and The Gifts of the Magi.

Ticket Pricing and Show Dates Bargain Priced $19 Preview Perform-ances run March 17-23 Opening Night is Friday, March 24, and performances continue through April 16, 2017 ($25-$29). Evening performances are Thurs-day, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Matinee performances are Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at jubileetheatre.org, in person at the theater Box Office, located at 506 Main Street, or by calling 817-338-4411.

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Timothy & Cynthia Gilliam celebrated their 10th wedding

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