The Fort Worth Star-Telegram took its newsroom on the road. Here’s what we learned

Diana Garcia Rios walked into the Northside Community Center on Nov. 13 holding two photos that each show three generations of her family.

She wanted to talk to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about her family’s roots in the north side that go five generations deep. That includes four generations of graduates from North Side High School, where steers are the mascot and maroon and white are the colors.

“When you cut me open, little steers fall out, and I bleed maroon and white,” she told me later. “It’s just ingrained in me.”

Rios came to the Star-Telegram’s Mobile Newsroom, when members of our staff spent parts of three days at the Northside Community Center and a morning at Casa Azul coffee shop during the week of Nov. 13.

This was our first Mobile Newsroom event, an outreach effort for our staff to learn more about the community, particularly areas and people we may not have represented well in coverage in the past. It was an extension of our Listening Tour, one-time meetings with community groups to help accomplish the same goal.

Rios was exactly the type of person we hoped to meet. Local government reporter Harrison Mantas and I spoke to her for the better part of an hour, and she even came back a second day to follow up with Mantas.

Rios, 66, talked about her grandfather, Tomas Alejandro, who she said rode with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, before settling in the north side sometime before 1920. Her father Guadalupe Garcia was a military veteran from Brownsville who came to Fort Worth after World War II to work at his brother’s dry cleaning business and then painted airplanes for the military.

Rios talked about the history of the north side and how it wasn’t always a predominantly Hispanic community. She spoke of rising property values, home flippers and a diverse group of young professionals she sees moving in.

Her feedback will lead to important stories and allow our reporters to write about the community with better context.

Rios had read my column in advance of the Mobile Newsroom and was one of our first visitors.

Hugo Martinez had also read my column and made an appointment to meet with me on the second day of our visit.

Martinez is a former Tarrant County assistant district attorney and a former assistant U.S. attorney who is now a U.S. immigration judge in Fort Worth. He’s a North Side High School graduate who earned his undergrad and law degrees from Texas Wesleyan (before Texas A&M took over its law school).

Martinez’s parents came to Fort Worth from Mexico 50 years ago. His father had been in law enforcement in Mexico and worked as a custodian with the Fort Worth Independent School District before retiring.

Martinez wanted to share the legacy of public service in his family and many others who were raised on the north side. Three of his brothers are in law enforcement and one is a nurse. He said several from his class at North Side High School are also in law enforcement.

“The memories I created in the North Side helped define who I am today,” he told me in an email after his visit. “This neighborhood’s work ethic, culture, and traditions have had a significant impact on shaping my personal identity. For years, people from this neighborhood have taken these values throughout the city and have helped build a stronger Fort Worth.”

Rios and Martinez are among the dozens of people we met during our Mobile Newsroom event. From others, we heard concerns about roads, sidewalks, the impact of development in the Stockyards and on Panther Island, communication from the school system and the lack of a unified voice for the north side on major issues, among other things. Pride in the community was a common denominator.

Each person helped us grow our understanding of the people and community, which will help us to better do our job. We are grateful for everyone who spent time with us.

If you’d like us to bring our Mobile Newsroom to your community, or your group would like to host a stop on our Listening Tour, please send me an email at scoffman@star-telegram.com.