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TYLA Diversity Dinner
By:  Bill Gardner

TYLA’s Minority Involvement Committee partnered with the Tarrant County Bar Association and the Fort Worth–Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association to bring this year’s TYLA Diversity Dinner to the Fort Worth Club on January 16. More than 100 lawyer-leaders and community activists from across Texas came together to promote dialogue regarding civil rights and to explore diversity in the legal community, with the added benefit of 1.5 hours of CLE credit.

This year’s keynote speaker Rev. Peter Johnson. The Rev. Johnson is a leader in the civil-rights movement and the founder and CEO of the Peter Johnson Institute of Non-Violence. The Rev. Johnson provided insights gained from his lifelong mission of advancing civil rights through nonviolence. The memories he shared of the struggles he and others faced seeking equality in a segregated America were spellbinding. His accounts of personal interactions with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders were captivating.

Also featured at the dinner were intricate handmade origami ornaments created by Paper for Water. Paper for Water, founded by 10- and 8-year-old sisters Isabelle and Katherine Adams, sells their handmade origami to raise money needed to drill water wells in developing countries. In their first year the Adams sisters raised more than $17,000 and were able to fund two wells, one in Ethiopia and one in India. Since then, they have raised more than $120,000 through origami sales, donations, and matching funds from philanthropists throughout Texas who are moved by their mission.