Founding Members

Rosalinda Martinez is a seasoned Community Volunteer and Community Advocate. A longtime resident of Fort Worth. She is an active member of her community. She has worked for Tarrant County College District for the past 11 years. Rosalinda Martinez is no stranger to community and civic involvement.  Her volunteer activities began when she joined the Fort Worth ISD, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). She spent the last 11 years serving in many capacities as PTO Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President and President. After a successful career in the PTO, it provided her the perfect foundation to establish two Parent Teacher Association’s (PTA), at the elementary and Middle school levels. She serves on the Board of Directors for CASA of Tarrant County, the Fort Worth Public Library Foundation and serves on the Executive Committee as Secretary. Plus on two Fort Worth ISD District Committees, District Advisory Committee, and North Side High School Site-Based Decision Making Committee. Co-Founder of Hispanic Heritage History Project Committee/Chicano Trailblazer. Mission: To host a free public event during National Hispanic Heritage Month highlighting the cultural, heritage and Hispanic contributions to our city and community. Founding Member, Latino History/Historia Latina Fort Worth and Catechist Religious Education – Volunteer at Our Lady of Guadalupe, Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth. Rosalinda received her bachelor’s degree in 2000 from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, TX.  She has been married to Arturo Martinez for 20 years and they have two daughters and one son. 

Emerico Perez has been a Professional photographer for over 15 years. Starting out photographing his family, Emerico started getting jobs photographing Quincianeras and weddings. In 2006 Emerico started photo shooting events in the Latino community starting with the Immigration rally in April of that year. Emerico started photo shooting political events, festivals, Tejano concerts, and various local Latino organizations. Most notably, Emerico served as the official photographer for Dolores Huerta when she came to Fort Worth to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the elementary school named in her honor. The University of North Texas displayed the Dolores Huerta event exhibit and the Fort Worth Public Library have both displayed Capturing History through Latino Lenses during Hispanic Heritage Month. Besides his photography, Emerico retired from AT&T after 30 years as an outside technician. He was also an active member of HISPANIC ASSOCIATION of COMMUNICATIONS EMPLOYEES (HACEMOS). Emerico has been recognized for his commitment in the Latino community by the UNITED HISPANIC COUNCIL and City councilmen Sal Espino and Carlos Flores. He is the Chairperson for the San Mateo Men’s club Golf tournament since 2007. He has also served as a Parade Judge for the 50th Anniversary of the Dies y Sies de September Parade, was president of HALOS, Treasurer of the San Mateo Men’s Club, Member and Chairperson for T.O.M ( Tejanos for Onda Music), on the San Mateo planning committee for their new church and community center. He sits on the board of the North Texas Community Health Center and is on the Scholarship committee for Juntos Si Se Puede.

Jennifer Brancato, a native of Dallas, earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Her desire to preserve and make history available to everyone led her to devote her graduate studies to the field of Public History. After graduation, she became an Archivist at the East Texas Research Center located on the campus of SFASU. During her tenure, she was appointed Assistant Director and Digital Archivist. In 2013, she became the University Archivist and Special Collections Coordinator at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. After five years in Ohio, she decided it was time to return home to Texas, where she accepted the Archivist position in the Genealogy, Local History, and Archives unit at the Fort Worth Public Library. She is a Certified Archivist and a Digital Archives Specialist. She is passionate about working with communities to help them preserve and share their history.

 Prior to ADLR, William has worked in both the public & private sectors with responsibilities in economic/business/education/workforce/program development, program & project management, budgeting, and grant writing. He prides himself with more than 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and serving the community. William is a native of Guatemala and a Fort Worth graduate of Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas Wesleyan University with a major in Marketing & Management and minor in Spanish. He also earned two Associate of Applied Science degrees in Marketing and Small Business Management from Tarrant County College. He is a graduate of Leadership Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program. For more about William, click here.