AJ Jackson thought he might receive an honorable mention for his work on neighborhood public safety after the city of Fort Worth notified him he’d been nominated in the mayor’s annual community engagement awards.
Jackson had no idea he’d been put up for Fort Worth Neighbor of the Year — one of the two biggest awards, along with Neighborhood of the Year — until he arrived at the ceremony March 7.
“I work a lot with the police department and am ‘Mr. Safety’ around here,” said Jackson, a relative newcomer who moved to Fort Worth in 2019. “So I just knew it was going to be that. There’s no way that I’m going to get anything because these neighborhoods have been at it for years, right?”
Wrong.
A panel of judges outside Fort Worth named Jackson Neighbor of the Year in The Mayor’s Community Engagement Neighborhood Awards. Jackson was among 24 nominees the judges considered from citywide associations.
Jackson led in forming the Riverwalk Residences Neighborhood Association in 2024 in Riverside as well as the neighborhood’s homeowners association that was formally launched in early March.
The nomination cited Jackson’s leadership in both organizations — he’s president of the neighborhood association — in the rapidly emerging neighborhood of high-end and luxury townhomes off of South Sylvania Avenue and along the east side of the Trinity River.
AJ Jackson and wife Carmen Castro, in the kitchen of their townhome in Riverwalk Residences in Fort Worth’s Riverside neighborhood. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)
Jackson and his wife, Carmen Castro, bought their townhome in 2019.
Since then, he’s pushed for essential services — such as mail and cable — that were lagging in the neighborhood. He urged the city and police to curb troublemakers zooming down Sylvania Avenue, doing doughnuts in nearby parking lots, setting off illegal fireworks and indiscriminately firing weapons.
Jackson, a digital media producer for the federal government, shot and archived a library of videos documenting these issues and others, such as elderly people and families trying to navigate stretches of South Sylvania and its dearth of sidewalks. He also pushed for quiet zones at nearby rail crossings.
Jackson joined Riverside associations in addressing common problems and helped create a new community culture in Riverwalk, including starting a house-to-house holiday crawl.
And when it became clear that Riverwalk had its own set of neighborhood problems compared to others — such as the historic United Riverside that runs along the east side of South Sylvania — Jackson and others formed the Riverwalk associations.
“A lot of the things that happened over here don’t necessarily always happen over in United Riverside,” Jackson said.
Jackson, 45, grew up in Washington, D.C., and migrated to Texas to be closer to family in DeSoto, south of Dallas. He and his wife, who is from Fort Worth, chose the Riverwalk area for its city feel and were among the early residents of the development’s first building. Now, several multi-floor buildings offer striking, westward rooftop views of downtown.
Jackson is adept at working with other leaders in the seven-neighborhood Riverside Alliance, said Rick Herring, a longtime Riverside leader and winner of Neighbor of the Year in 2022.
That’s been particularly evident given his rapport with leaders of United Riverside, a modest, mature neighborhood long wary of gentrification and developers. Jackson joined United Riverside as a member before forming the Riverwalk associations.
Even though Jackson has a “different mindset” than United Riverside leaders about development on the river, “there have been no disagreements,” Herring said.
Several years ago, when interest in the riverfront surfaced, United Riverside leaders raised concerns ranging from viability to fear of the unknown and an anticipation of arrogance from residents in the adjacent, luxury development.
Riverwalk Residences is an emerging neighborhood being developed in Riverside, west of South Sylvania Avenue, south of East 4th Street, north of Fisher Avenue, and along the east side of the Trinity River. (Scott Nishimura | Fort Worth Report)
Some of United Riverside’s fears — Riverwalk Residences, for one, has run through multiple developers — have been realized. But the luxury townhomes have worked well along the Trinity, notes Phyllis Allen, president of the United Riverside Neighborhood Association.
Allen admits she and Jackson disagree at times. For example, United Riverside is opposed to the idea of quiet rail crossings, citing the neighborhood’s seniors who are hard of hearing and need the warning when a train is nearby.
Still, the longtime community leader says Jackson and Castro are “great partners to United Riverside. We appreciate having them, and I couldn’t be prouder they have won Neighbor of the Year.”
Castro and friends in the council district nominated Jackson for the engagement award.
“I didn’t want to tell him anything because he’s very humble and doesn’t grasp the level of impact he’s had on this city,” Castro said. “I’m born and raised here, so I know how the city works. I just wanted to get him to understand.”
Herring said he, like Jackson, was surprised by the nomination and victory.
“I was thrilled for AJ,” Herring said. “On that list of nominees, there were quite a few folks who had a lot of years and a lot of working in their neighborhoods.”
Don Diego and the Razz Band perform during ComoFest on July 3, 2025, at Lake Como Park in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)
Award winners:
Neighborhood of the Year
Winner: Lake Como Neighborhood Advisory Council. Lake Como won this for the third consecutive year and took home several other awards.
1st runner-up: Park Glen Neighborhood Association, one of several awards Park Glen won
2nd runner-up: Oakhurst Neighborhood Association, one of several awards the association won
Fort Worth Pride-Voluntary
Winner: Lake Como Neighborhood Advisory Council
Fort Worth Pride-Voluntary-HOA
Park Glen Neighborhood Association
Lake Country residents enjoy strong community. (Sandra Sadek | Fort Worth Report)
Spirit of Fort Worth-Voluntary
Spirit of Fort Worth-HOA
Community Collaboration and Engagement-Voluntary
Community Collaboration and Engagement-HOA
Rainbow Ridge Homeowners Association
Volunteers in the West Meadowbrook area raised $10,000 to replace a senior citizen’s fence that had been destroyed by vagrants. (Courtesy photo | Mike Phipps)
Healthy Neighborhood-Voluntary
Healthy Neighborhood-HOA
Safety First-Voluntary
Safety First-HOA
Winner: Rainbow Ridge Homeowners Association
Trees line the streets in the north Fort Worth Oakhurst neighborhood. (Photo by Cristian ArguetaSoto/Fort Worth Report)
Partners in Learning-Voluntary
Winner: Oakhurst Neighborhood Association
Partners in Learning-HOA
Winner: Park Glen Neighborhood Association
Distinguished Service to Veterans
Organization 1st runner-up: Roll Call
Individual 1st runner-up: Marquita Foxworth
Organization winner: NextOp
Individual winner: Rick Irving
Newsletter
Heart of the Community Special Award
Lake Country Property Owners Association
Special Community Recognition Award
Code Officer of the Year
Winner: Tessa Booth, Lake Como Neighborhood Advisory Council
1st runner-up: Taborah Reed, Far Greater Northside Historical Neighborhood Association
2nd runner-up: Matthew Hayes, Uptown Fort Worth Neighborhood Association
Neighborhood Police Officer of the Year
Winner: Officer Aric Phillips, Fairhaven Neighborhood Association
1st runner-up: Officer Dustin Lamb, North Beverly Hills Neighborhood Association
2nd runner-up: Officer Kirk Massey, Far Greater Northside Historical Neighborhood Association
Danny Scarth Trailblazer
Neighbor of the Year
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local governmental accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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