For nearly two centuries, Texans have built, risked, welcomed and dreamed. We have grown because people believed this was the place where ambition meets opportunity and hard work pays off.
Today, Texas marks its 190th birthday and begins the final decade before its bicentennial.
This year also marks 10 years since Texas 2036, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives and opportunities of all Texans, was founded. That symmetry makes this a moment both for urgency and reflection. It challenges us to think beyond the next election or news cycle.
The data and trendlines tell us Texas will continue to grow. The real question is whether opportunity grows with it.
Opinion
Over the past decade, our state’s growth has outpaced nearly every large state in the nation. Our population now exceeds 31 million. Our economy exceeds $2.7 trillion. Nearly one in 10 Americans lives here.
In North Texas, corporate relocations, workforce expansion and infrastructure investment reflect both the promise and the pressure of rapid expansion.
Ten years ago, as Texas approached its 180th birthday, families were arriving, jobs were multiplying and investment was accelerating.
So were the pressures.
Water supplies tightened. Infrastructure strained to keep pace. Many students graduated without clear pathways to high-demand careers. Health care costs rose for working families.
The challenge was not growth itself. It was whether we would prepare early enough to ensure more Texans could move forward with confidence, or whether inadequacies in infrastructure, education, health and housing would stifle their ambition and dreams.
Out of that conversation, Texas 2036 was created as a nonpartisan, data-driven organization to ask hard questions early, ground decisions in reliable evidence and work alongside leaders across business, education and public service to advance practical solutions.
By 2036, Texas could exceed 35 million residents. Demand for needed services will continue to rise. At the same time, forces such as artificial intelligence, housing affordability and access to affordable childcare will shape both economic competitiveness and individual opportunity.
Attracting people and employers is only the beginning. Sustaining prosperity requires preparing Texans to succeed in a more complex economy and ensuring communities have the infrastructure and resources they need to thrive.
Success will be measured in tangible ways: children reading and doing math at grade level, graduates earning a postsecondary credential that leads to strong wages, families securing stable health coverage and affordable housing, and communities supported by reliable water, energy and transportation systems.
Over the past decade, Texans have acted. Voters approved up to $20 billion in water infrastructure investments. State lawmakers restructured community college funding to reward outcomes tied to workforce demand. Policy leaders expanded access to health coverage, and more than 4 million Texans are now enrolled in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans.
Progress happens when voters engage and when elected officials do the difficult work of governing not for politics but for impact on our lives. The credit belongs across sectors and across parties to those willing to act early rather than wait.
Anticipating challenges and planning early costs less than reacting late.
The next 10 years will determine whether Texas merely gets bigger or truly grows stronger, more competitive and more widely prosperous.
We invite leaders to join us in asking the big questions now and working together on practical solutions that expand possibilities for the next generation.
We have the talent.
We have the resources. We have the experience to act.
This is our moment of opportunity.
History will measure what we choose to do with it.
Tom Luce is founder and chairman emeritus of Texas 2036. David Leebron is president and CEO of Texas 2036.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com