Working to Ensure Texas is the Best Place to Live and Work for Generations to Come

Texas 2036

4 years ago

Texas is special, a place like no other. It is a land of epic proportions and extreme contrasts. A land hemmed by mountains and deserts, forests and plains, and rivers and a sea. Of blizzards and heat, rain and drought, unique unto itself.

Texans are special, too — characterized throughout a rich history by an independent, pragmatic, persistent, and generous attitude, and a confidence in ourselves and what we can accomplish. We are adaptable, willing to rise together to confront a challenge, and united in our sense of Texas pride. This is as evident today, as we confront the COVID-19 pandemic, as it ever has been.

Generations of Texans have shared a sincere optimism that Texas’s future will be even brighter than its past, a faith that has drawn millions of people to our state. As we work to recover from the coronavirus, we must not ignore the challenges and acute disparities this pandemic has surfaced. We must face them head-on and develop innovative new ways to solve them.

Our Mission

In 2036, Texas will celebrate its bicentennial: 200 years of growth, change, perseverance through adversity, and achievement, the likes of which has rarely been seen. By then, nearly 10 million more people will call Texas home.

As we look to Texas’s third century, it’s time to take stock of where we have been as a state, where we are today, and where we want to go in the future.

Texas 2036 is a non-profit organization led by a diverse, statewide, bipartisan board. It was born out of a love for Texas and a recognition that long-term, data-driven strategies and an ongoing vigilance are required to ensure we enjoy a future that sustains and expands opportunity for all Texans. Smart strategies and systematic changes represent an essential foundation for that future.

This is why Texas 2036 has been building a case for action, amassing and contextualizing hundreds of data sets that show where Texas is today on different policy areas at the state and county level, and where we are heading.

Generations of Texans before us took deliberate and difficult steps to ensure the prosperity and quality of life many of us enjoy today. Now, we must look ahead to what the future could be, build upon our legacy of success, and overcome challenges that lie beyond the horizon.

Texas Challenges

As the COVID-19 outbreak shows, past prosperity can be derailed by out-of-control events. Texas’s vast resources, optimistic spirit, and growing, diverse population represent significant opportunity for the 38 million expected to live here by 2036.

These Texans will tend to be younger and more diverse than Texans today, and accommodating them all will challenge our state’s infrastructure and services, especially because this growth will not be uniform – it will likely be concentrated in major urban areas.

The challenges will be many:

Texas has struggled to effectively educate all students so they can actively participate in an increasingly modern economy.
Health expenditures are ballooning, while Texas ranks in the bottom half of U.S. states on many health measures.
We must prepare for a radical shift in how people and goods are moved, as alternative types of mobility become commonplace.
We must ensure responsible use of our natural resources and balance economic value with stewardship for future generations.
We must better protect our most vulnerable populations.
And we must think differently about how this $250 billion enterprise we call the State of Texas best allocates resources to provide the greatest opportunity for the greatest number of Texans.

Texas 2036 isn’t focused on solving problems overnight or only getting through the political crisis of the moment. Instead, we are looking further down the field to help Texas leaders and the public think about the challenges that Texans will confront in the future.

Pursuing a Vibrant Future

In pursuit of a vibrant future, Texas 2036 will be rolling out our Strategic Framework, which lays out 36 important goals connected to our collective prosperity.

It is rooted in a commitment to tackle the most pressing issues our state faces in the best way we know how — the “Texas way.”

We look forward to having that conversation later this month and are excited to engage with Texans across this state.