Former News Anchor Serves Parks, Nonprofits

Calvert Collins-Bratton

Calvert Collins-Bratton is passionate about improving life in Dallas through her professional and volunteer work.

She recently started a new full-time position as chief relationship officer at Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT).

In this role, she’s responsible for working with her team to bring in gifts and funds that the organization’s philanthropy team then distributes to nonprofits supported by the foundation.

“I had seen the impact that CFT has had on our city for a long time,” Collins-Bratton said, describing what brought her to her new role. “Almost … no organization has had the kind of impact over its duration that Communities Foundation has. It’s really the gold standard for philanthropy.”

The seventh-generation Texan’s career has also included working as vice president of strategic events and relationships for the Methodist Health System Foundation and as a news reporter/anchor in Omaha, in Las Vegas, and for FOX 4 here in Dallas.

She also is in her last term on the Dallas Park and Recreation Board, which she was appointed to in 2017 by then-Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates. Collins-Bratton was board president when ground broke in 2021 on the new Northaven Trail bridge over U.S. 75, which celebrated its grand opening in December.

“Having young children, certainly I was a user of our parks and partnerships, and I saw the value that parks provided not only from a quality of life standpoint but also from an infrastructure standpoint to the city,” Collins-Bratton said.

She says the parks are valuable for recreation, wellness, infrastructure, and commerce.

Her family lives off the Northaven Trail, and her children use it to walk to Good Shepherd Episcopal School: “In my lifetime, I would have never thought that would be possible in an urban environment like Dallas.”

Collins-Bratton also serves on the boards of Resource Center, the SMU Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Hunger Busters, and Christ’s Family Clinic.

Growing up, her dad taught that their family helps people without asking questions.

“I come from a family of philanthropists, and they have always cared,” Collins-Bratton said. “They’ve wanted to do something.”

She plans to pass that along.

“I want (my children) to learn that they need to have a zest for life, and they need to care about the city that they live in, wherever they live,” Collins-Bratton said.

The legacy Collins-Bratton hopes to leave the city: “She gave a damn, and she encouraged others to do the same, whatever that looks like.”

“In my personal and professional life, I want to help make Dallas and North Texas a thriving community for all, so if I can contribute, whether that’s through philanthropy, through parks, health, advocacy for underserved communities, then that is what I want my legacy to be,” she said.