Michael Clements
Jay Chapa (’93 M.P.A.)
lives day to day. And in our own small way, we are helping change the face of Dallas in a good way.”
Now, with Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, she evaluates the impact of housing programs. This summer, she worked with four UNT researchers in releasing a study to identify the most blighted areas of Dallas. The study, commissioned by Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, resulted in a forum of community leaders discussing possible solutions, including setting goals and priorities for blight reduction, establishing a data-based system that measures progress and working on targeted high-priority properties. “My career has led me to Dallas Area Habitat in a way that I kind of marvel at,” she says. “I took 30-plus years of experience and found myself in a place where we are making a difference in neighborhoods and
Producing talent U.S. News & World Report ranks UNT’s city management and urban policy graduate program eighth in the nation. And the program has a strong history of producing highly ranked talent. More top-level city executives in Texas hold a master’s degree from UNT than any other university. “The program is ranked really high when it comes to city manager and local government programs, and it’s for a good reason,” says Jay Chapa (’93 M.P.A.), housing and economic development
“It is projects like these that involve community partnerships where my education at UNT has proven so valuable.” — Jane Jenkins, president and CEO of Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. 36
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director and interim finance director for the city of Fort Worth. “They require internships that give you real-world experience, and they bring in professors who have worked in municipal or local government.” Chapa’s internship with the city of Carrollton helped him get the experience he needed to land a job with the city of Fort Worth as a budget analyst in 1994, he says. He served in the city’s economic development office where he eventually became director of what is now housing and economic development. In his career with Fort Worth, Chapa has been involved in such projects as including affordable apartment units in the city’s West 7th mixed-use development and revitalizing southeast Fort Worth with Renaissance Square, a new retail hub anchored by a Walmart Supercenter and other major stores. “I have always had a sense of and have enjoyed politics and was involved in nonprofits growing up,” Chapa says, but he found his niche within public administration while getting his UNT degree. “The UNT program shepherded me to the local government side of things.”