By: Ashley Munoz, Project Coordinator | Funkytown Mindful Market Manager, COACT
COACT is a nonprofit social design studio based in Fort Worth, Texas, with a mission to amplify communities by creating lasting solutions to today’s unique, complex, and pressing social challenges. As activists in the communities where COACT founders Jesse Herrera, Amanda Arizola, and Juan Villalpando were born and raised, they observed a recurring issue in addressing social injustices. People would often gather to discuss novel and bold ideas to tackle critical community issues. However, despite their good intentions, these conversations often missed representation from the very communities they aimed to serve and lacked a deeper understanding of the root causes of the issues.
The challenges of our time are complex, often influenced by multiple contributing factors and weighed down by a history of oppression and ineffective solutions that are often far removed from the communities they aim to serve. To build true equity, efforts must center around human behavior and the unique experiences of those experiencing disparities. This requires building empathy with community members by understanding their concerns, their environment, their day-to-day experiences, and any factors within their context that contribute to disparities.
To bridge the gap between the community and problem solvers, COACT was formed as a Collective Action Network to create participatory processes that give those impacted by disparities a platform to share insights, inspiration, and ideas. COACT centers its actions around the challenges it aims to address and the distinct behavior of the communities affected to co-create solutions alongside them to tackle the complex injustices and challenges society faces.
Through its work, COACT helps its partners reframe the problems they aim to solve, build empathy with the communities they aim to serve, and design solutions aligned with the needs of the communities most affected by disparities.
COACT is proudly Latinx-founded and operated.
Learn more at www.coactntx.org.
“COACT excites me because we are a dynamic hub, uniting local communities and bridging the gap between problems and solutions. Our diverse board and steering committees live and work within the communities we serve, making us truly community-driven. Together, we create impactful change and foster collaboration that transforms lives.” Bridgette Escamilla, Chair, Board of Directors
COACT Projects
Each project is a unique response to an identified challenge. In the journey to address each of these pressing challenges, COACT works with community stakeholders, partner organizations, and curates steering committees to identify and develop the appropriate solution(s) for lasting impact.
Real Stories
An art installation and story exchange created to raise awareness and understanding towards homelessness among college students.
• 5 student stories documented
• 6 installations hosted
• 2 digital galleries created
• Over 100 art pieces created
Funkytown Mindful Market
A farmers’ and artisan market created to cultivate cultural mindfulness and increase local food access in East Fort Worth. Held on the 1st Saturday of every month on the Texas Wesleyan University Campus from 11am – 2pm.
• 70 local vendors
• Over 1,000 customers
• 14 mindful demonstrations
• location obtained permit
Grow Southeast
A community development initiative to incubate community-owned urban farms to combat food insecurity.
• 10,850 lbs of food since 2019
• 4 local farms
• 2 farm managers trained
• Policy co-creation to improve the permitting process
• 197,239 lbs of organic waste diverted from landfill since 2021
Board of Directors:
Bridgette Escamilla, Chair
Sandra Acevedo
John Avila
James Earl
Matt Green
Simeon Henderson
Roderick Miles
Chris White
Team:
Jesse Herrera, Founder | Executive Director
Amanda Arizola, Co-Founder | COO
Ashley Munoz, Project Coordinator | Funkytown Mindful Market Manager
Juan Villalpando, Co-Founder