The Foundation for Community Empowerment (FCE) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in 1995. From its beginning, through its committed personnel and its bold initiatives, FCE has served as a catalyst for comprehensive efforts to transform low-income neighborhoods in South Dallas and to build a replicable model for urban revitalization.
For many organizations that make a difference in the world, a visionary leader is the driving force for its effective work. The Foundation for Community Empowerment is such an organization. Understanding FCE requires understanding its founder, J. McDonald Williams.
Before becoming Chairman of Trammell Crow Company in 1994, Don served as managing partner, President and CEO. During his quarter-century tenure at Trammell Crow he observed with deepening concern the decline of the Southern sector of Dallas while the Northern sector experienced growth and increasing prosperity. The glaring differences in education, income, health, and social well being of persons living in South Dallas were deeply troubling to him and at variance with his values. He saw local systems with behaviors and mind-sets that created significant inequality of opportunity.
FCE was established to address these concerns—to listen to the citizens of distressed neighborhoods in South Dallas, to facilitate conversations, to research the systemic problems, to generate ideas, to mobilize people and organizations, to provide resources, and to advocate for solutions.