1995: J. McDonald “Don” Williams, then chairman of Trammell Crow Company,

created the Foundation for Community Empowerment, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.  FCE was founded as a catalyst for comprehensive efforts to transform low-income neighborhoods in southern Dallas and to build a replicable model for urban revitalization.

2003: FCE established a formal research arm, the J. McDonald Williams Institute, the first national think tank born of a community-based organization.  The Institute’s activities were geared toward ready-to-implement strategies that could narrow the disparities between low-income and affluent neighborhoods. In 2008, the institute moved to the University of Texas at Dallas, where it was rechristened the Institite for Urban Policy Research.                 

2005: FCE created Frazier Revitalization Inc., an independent 501(c)(3), to spearhead implementation of a $300 million, comprehensive plan to revitalize the Frazier neighborhood east of Fair Park.