John Fullinwider

John Fullinwider is the co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality, an educator and community organizer, with more than 35 years’ experience in Dallas, working on a wide range of issues ranging from lead pollution to homelessness. He has served on the boards of the National Coalition for the Homeless, National Low-Income Housing Coalition, Low Income Housing Information Service, and Institute for Community Economics. Fullinwider is the co-founder of Common Ground Community Economic Development Corporation, East Dallas Community Schools, Dallas Peace & Justice Center, and Friends of the South Dallas Cultural Center. He is board president of Teatro Dallas. John taught for 15 years at Otto Fridia Alternative High School in Dallas ISD; he won the district’s highest honors, the Excellence in High School Teaching Award and the “Golden Apple” Teacher of the Year Award. In the 1980s, John was the lead organizer in closing two industrial lead smelters, in West Dallas and Oak Cliff. He has testified as an expert witness in Congress, the Texas Legislature, and federal court on the issues of housing, homelessness, and community development. For his community work, he is the recipient of numerous awards including the Equal Justice Award from Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, the Martin Luther King Jr. Center Neighborhood Improvement Award, and the Dallas Urban League President's "Bridge Builder" Award. For the past four years, he has been a key organizer of the movement to take down Confederate statues and icons in Dallas.