Creative Community: Neighbors Pitch in to Paint Mural at Neighborhood Health Center in Las Vegas Trail

Giant butterflies, flowers and children’s handprints decorate the outdoor mural that greets visitors to the new neighborhood health center serving the Las Vegas Trail community.

The mural’s vibrant colors and lively design – painted with the help of kids and adults who live nearby – give a friendly welcome to guests who pull into the parking lot. The image depicts joy, growth and a bright future for the Las Vegas Trail (LVT) area of west Fort Worth.

Local residents were eager to make their mark on the 3.7-acre campus, where health care providers, social service agencies and local governments are teaming up to transform the LVT vicinity. The center serves as a hub for improved access to medical care, nutritious food, job skills, safety and other support.

Cook Children’s Health Care System offers pediatric services in the newly built 40,000-square-foot facility. Additional partners include JPS Health Network, the City of Fort Worth, LVTRise, WestAid, a local food pantry, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, Tarrant County College, and more.

“I got to meet new people and serve my community while making everything look beautiful at the same time,” said 12-year-old Elena Hernandez, one of the mural volunteers. Elena said she painted her heart out – and she was grateful that community members were invited to be part of the process.

Jill Koss, MS, CCLS, director of Cook Children’s Family Support Services, said the mural theme captures kids’ love for playing outside and exploring nature. Words of optimism – “lovely,” “strong,” “chosen,” “unique” – embellish the swirling landscape. Some of the painters went freestyle by adding polka dots, a random cat and an enthusiastic “best day!”  

To give neighbors a feeling of ownership in the project, Cook Children’s in the planning stages asked local children for input on the mural design and art inside the building. Their feedback? Bright colors, butterflies and flowers. Those voices were heard.  

“It really creates emotional safety. It allows kids to feel like ‘This is a place for me,’” Koss said.

Community engagement was a step toward building relationships with families the center will serve, said Veronica Tolley, vice president of Cook Children’s Primary Care & Specialty Services. Asking residents to put their own touches on the mural fostered a sense of belonging, she pointed out. 

“In everything we do, we put the patient first,” Tolley said. “This is another example of that, by kids bringing their imagination to a project that’s already been very innovative.”

People of all ages had messy fun on mural painting day. They chose colors to fill in outlines drawn on the wall by artist Calina “Cal” Mishay Mejia. Event organizers wanted the day’s cheerful atmosphere to help neighbors feel at ease coming to the center for health care or other services.

Magic of Art

Cal used shading and highlights to incorporate the individuality that young painters brought to the mural, which measures 50 feet long and 11 feet high. She likes that the children expressed their personalities by adding the cat and other whimsical features to her original design.  

In her professional experience, Cal has learned that murals help people connect with one another.

“It’s the one thing I feel like that brings people from all different walks of life, and they have a moment to have a common ground and share time with each other and just create something that’s bigger than them,” she said.  

She hopes that the LVT neighbors who helped paint the mural take pride in their work. Show your friends, Cal urged. Check out the details up close.  

When life gets hard or chaotic, she said, the sight of nature’s beauty helps people feel grounded. Butterfly décor is carried out across the center, including the shape of butterflies imprinted in the sidewalks and floor. It’s also a nod to Fort Worth’s location on a migratory flyway for monarch butterflies. 

The crew of painters included Fort Worth City Council member Michael D. Crain, who represents the LVT area. Crain said he participated because the mural stands for concern and care for the most vulnerable. Those include an estimated 20,000 children ages 0-14 who live in the struggling neighborhood.

“The health center overall is a game changer for this community,” he said. “People don’t have to go miles and miles to get health care. They can come here.”

Many of the residents lack transportation, but the facility puts medical expertise, education and food assistance within their reach. Convenient resources are key to the revitalization of LVT, Crain said.

The flurry of activity around the mural drew praise from Barry Hudson, president of the Western Hills North Neighborhood Association.

“It’s good to see the children here, different age groups,” Hudson said. “It’s good to see the intention of making this a unique project to serve LVT and surrounding area residents.”  

Hudson and others shared their excitement about Cook Children’s and JPS bringing health care where it’s desperately needed.

“We’re so much more than a crime rate. We’re so much more than all the negative stories you hear,” said Paige Charbonnet, executive director of the LVTRise advocacy organization. “We’re families, and we’re kids, and we’re here to help better ourselves. And we’re so excited to have a clinic in the neighborhood that will help fill a gap that we’ve had for a long time.”

More about LVT

Las Vegas Trail in its heyday was a bustling community centered around Carswell Air Force Base. Closure of the base in 1993 gutted the neighborhood of jobs and economic stability. Without vital infrastructure, LVT fell on hard times. The city took a step to help start the neighborhood’s resurgence by converting the former Westside YMCA into the Rise Community Center.

In November 2023, Cook Children’s and its collaborators started construction on the new neighborhood health center at the corner of Calmont Avenue and Cherry Lane. The idea was to take a teamwork approach to providing key resources close to home for an underserved population.

Cook Children’s providers will start seeing patients at the new location starting July 23, and appointments can be scheduled now.  Services from other partners include adult health care, job training, food pantry, nutrition education and a police storefront.

“Bringing the neighborhood clinic directly into the community will be life-changing,” Charbonnet said. “Cook Children’s has involved the community in the entire process.”

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