State of Dallas Housing - 5 Year Comparison Report

buildingcommunityWORKSHOP is excited to share our State of Dallas Housing - 5 Year Comparison Report! This report focuses on how Dallas’ housing landscape has changed over five years. Using our State of Dallas Housing 2017 report as a baseline, this year’s report shows how the data changed from 2016 to 2021.

You can also learn more about the current state of Dallas’ rental housing market by checking out Child Poverty Action Lab’s recently released Rental Housing Needs Assessment.

We hope this report, along with all the other great work happening in Dallas around housing, will lead to tangible outcomes for those in need of attainable housing. Learn how you can support attainable housing in Dallas by visiting Dallas Housing Coalition’s website

3318 Beall St Design/Build Complete

Construction is complete at 3318 Beall Street in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood of Dallas! Designed to accommodate a mixture of owner and renter occupied space to house people at different income levels and stages of life, we were fortunate to work with a client that values the interconnectedness of home as financial refuge, financial generator, and architectural expression of a commitment to place.

This project was a partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington Design/Build Studio. To read more about the home’s innovative design and how a house can support life cycle changes, click here.

Photos by Chad Davis

Hotel Miramar Conversion

In partnership with CitySquare Housing, [bc] has been working on the conversion of the Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave in Dallas into permanent supportive housing.

Built around 1953, the design is typical of the motels that were popular during that era. When this project is complete, it will comprise at least 40 units, each with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette. Services will also be provided on-site, including case management, substance abuse assessment and support and employment assistance. Staff on-site will include a property manager, program manager, substance use specialist, employment specialist, outreach coordinator, and case manager.

Stay tuned for more from this project!

Miramar Motel in its heyday

Hotel Miramar at 1950 Fort Worth Ave

Exploring Affordable Housing Options in Dallas

We’re excited to announce that we have a new project starting up in Dallas! 

With funding from the Truist Foundation and the MUFG Union Bank Foundation, we have begun a partnership with East Dallas Christian Church (EDCC) in their effort to repurpose existing assets in the Peak's Addition neighborhood of Dallas and explore the reprogramming of existing facilities as well as affordable housing options for their vacant property. Church Cartographers, a mission-based consulting firm specializing in reimagining underutilized church assets, and East Dallas Development Organization (EDCO) are also key project partners joining in this effort.

When the project is complete, EDCC will have a vision for community programming of an unused building as well as a report on their vacant land detailing: 

• Number of units that could be built

• What percentage of AMI could be served at each price point

• Preliminary development proforma

• Potential cash flow resulting from project, should EDCC wish to pursue it

The research produced through this project will add to [bc]’s ongoing efforts to push innovative solutions for affordable housing in Dallas. Like so many other cities, Dallas faces major housing affordability issues,with low-income communities of color being most at-risk of displacement and losing the rich historic character of their neighborhoods. The aim is to approach the concept of the Missing Middle - an industry term for the lack of quality low rise medium density housing options) to meet the demands of affordable housing, equitable opportunities for home ownership, and healthy neighborhoods. See image below, courtesy of missingmiddlehousing.com.

We have been engaged in research and mapping to understand existing neighborhood assets and opportunities and will begin the community engaged design process in the weeks to come. Stay tuned for more from this exciting project!

Celebrating at 3318 Beall Street

Over the past two months, [bc] has been honored to partner with UTA Design/Build Professor Julia Lindgren and her fantastic students in the construction over at 3318 Beall Street, our latest design/build project in Dallas.

Since mid-March, this class made amazing progress on the house. Now that their semester has wrapped up, we all gathered onsite for a celebration of their work yesterday. It was a great time to check out all the work the students have done and to celebrate their contribution! We look forward to keeping in touch with the students and know amazing things are in store for them as they continue their education.

Check out the photos from the celebration!

Professor Julia Lindgren, former [bc] member, speaks about the process and learnings from the project

Words of appreciation for the students’ hard work

Students pose on the front porch

Fair Park Community Park Project Underway

In December 2020, [bc] was selected as part of a team led by Studio-MLA along with AGWms_studio and local landscape architecture firm studioOutside to design a new community park at Fair Park, the 277-acre National Historic Landmark in Dallas that's home to the State Fair of Texas.

Replacing over one thousand parking spaces, the project will feature an 11-acre park with free programming for children, adults, and seniors. The planned Community Park design will be co-created with residents and could include features like a large lawn, a children's play area, naturalized plantings, remembrance gardens, a pavilion for gatherings, movable tables and chairs, and more. 

As part of the core design team, [bc] will rely on an interdisciplinary process of co-creation to provide architectural services related to the overall park vision, pavilion, and supporting facilities of the new Community Park. We are excited to help envision a transformative and just public space for Dallas. 

Design meetings are beginning now with residents of the Fair Park area. Sign up to receive updates on the project here! 

Program ideas generated through the Fair Park Master Plan engagement process. Image courtesy fairparkfirst.org

Design engagement for the Fair Park Master Plan. Images courtesy fairparkfirst.org

Community History Exhibits Published

We recently wrapped up our Dallas Neighborhood Stories project in partnership with the Dallas Public Library (DPL) with three digital Community History exhibits published to DPL’s blog, Booked Solid. The communities in focus were West Dallas, South Dallas, and Red Bird.

We began each community history effort in late 2019 with one full day of archiving at the local library branch, which led to multiple follow-up interviews and one and one meetings with longtime community members. This project is a small piece of a process that will take years, even generations of Dallasites, to truly give justice to each neighborhood’s robust history. 

Check the exhibits out at each link below - and be sure to share with folks who might be interested!

West Dallas Community History 

South Dallas Community History

Red Bird Community History

The contributions, which range from documentation of West Dallas residents’ struggle against lead contaminated soil to memorabilia from Carter High School in Red Bird, will help to reshape a narrative that has long been dominated by the history of white Dallasites. This work is an effort to strengthen awareness of our city, celebrate the diverse places that give it character and texture, and create platforms for active dialogue about its history and future. 

The West Dallas portion of the project was featured in KERA News.

With these small exhibitions, we hope to encourage more people to record their personal history with the Library and help expand the collection.

See a preview from each neighborhood below:

This project was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Humanities Texas. 

How to Be a Housing Advocate

Everyone deserves a safe, healthy, affordable place to live. Every neighborhood deserves housing that meets the diverse needs of our community. But unfortunately, the housing reality in most cities is far from perfect. Housing segregation persists due to a legacy of racist housing policies like redlining. Today, misconceptions about affordable housing persist among many residents — but housing diversity strengthens our economy, improves commuting times, and provides a number of other benefits.

If you would like to help promote housing diversity in your own neighborhood or city, [bc] has put together a guide on how to be a housing advocate that covers the following topics:

• What housing diversity is and why it’s a good thing

• Why the city of Dallas doesn’t have housing diversity

• Why it’s hard to find affordable housing

• Misconceptions surrounding affordable housing

• What YOU can do to be a housing advocate

The report features a case study of Dallas, but it applies to cities across the USA. To learn how you can be a Housing Advocate and promote housing diversity in EVERY neighborhood, read the full report here.

Design/Build: Innovation in Dolphin Heights

[bc] has been working on a design/build project in the Dolphin Heights neighborhood of Dallas. We have worked with a client to design a 1500 square foot affordable house. We are acting as the designer and builder, focusing on sustainability by maximizing the use of pre- and post-consumer recyclable materials in construction and pursuing a LEED certifiable design. When complete, this project will be an example for a new way forward in affordable home delivery and ownership for the city of Dallas. 

We are currently wrapping up with the permitting process, after which construction will begin. We’re looking to have it finished by May/June. We have already identified a buyer, and she and her family can’t wait to move into their new home!   

WHY WE’RE DOING IT

Housing costs are skyrocketing in cities across the country, including Dallas. The median rent in Dallas is $1,250, a rate which is out of reach for Dallas’s homeless and low income residents earning less than 0-31% of the Dallas AMI, which equals an income of $1617.8 per month. Unfortunately, recent housing production in Dallas has not met the need for low-income families. The majority of new housing in the City of Dallas has been concentrated in just a few of its wealthier neighborhoods, despite widespread growth across the city’s nearly 400 neighborhoods. Approaching this problem requires innovative solutions in design and construction. Focusing on the design-build approach, which reduces costs and expedites the construction process while allowing for maximum input from the homebuyer, results in both time and dollars saved -- money that can then be put toward developing more affordable housing or directly into the client’s pocket. 

This project was funded in part by a generous contribution from the Truist Foundation. 

Joppa Neighborhood Stories

Joppa, sometimes spelled Joppee, or Joppie, is Hebrew for “beautiful” or “new beginnings”, and is also the name of one of the Dallas’s few preserved freedmen's towns that remains today. Sitting just north of I-45 and Highway 12, it is nestled between the Trinity River and the Union Pacific rail lines, with the Great Trinity Forest just to the east and the Joppa Preserve to the south. The other side of the river has seen millions of dollars of investment in golf courses, an equestrian center and a neighborhood park expansion. Joppa is primarily shotgun houses that have stood in the neighborhood for generations. Currently, about 500 people live in Joppa

Land grant certificate granting Robinson F. Smith a portion of the land where Joppa is now located.
Texas Land Grant. Dallas, Texas: 1837. https://s3.glo.texas.gov/ncu/SCANDOCS/archives_webfiles/arcmaps/webfiles/landgrants/PDFs/3/3/7/337356.pdf

The land where Joppa currently sits was once inhabited by Native American tribes. When people of European descent colonized the area, they divided up the land, creating “land grants” transferring ownership of Native American land into private hands. The Joppa neighborhood is on land that was granted to Robinson F. Smith and Lorenzo Van Cleve, who were each “given” 800 acres of land in 1845, in exchange for their service in the Army of Texas. The surrounding area was also divided up amongst former soldiers of the Republic of Texas - just north of R.F. Smith survey was the Dugland McFarland survey, and north of that another Lorenzo Van Cleve survey. Over time, that land was further divided up amongst family and other colonizers. 

Joppa area settled by freeman Henry Critz Hines
During the Civil War, southern white owners of enslaved people sought ways to ensure that enslaved people would not become free. While Texas was a southern state that upheld slavery, it did not see a lot of fighting or much presence from Union soldiers. Southern Confederates saw Texas as a potentially safe place to resettle, lay low, or send enslaved people until the war was over. Henry Critz Hines was an enslaved person sent as property from Missouri or Alabama to Texas for protection until the end of the Civil War. He was sent to the Miller Plantation, a plantation on the Lorenzo Van Cleve survey north of today’s Joppa. In addition to the Plantation, the Miller’s also ran one of a few local ferry companies that shuttled people across the Trinity. After the end of the Civil War and the declaration of the Emancipation Declaration, many formerly enslaved peoples who had been on the Miller Plantation stayed in the area. In the early 1870’s, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was built, making its way north from Houston, reaching Dallas in 1872. It’s believed that it was around this time that Henry Critz Hines settled in Joppa. Historian Donald Peyton said in a 1991 Dallas Morning News article that “when the slaves were freed, Miller gave Hines the ferry which was used to cross the Trinity River. The railroad had been built and the ferry was becoming outdated. But Hines still prospered.” Soon after other formerly enslaved persons at the Miller Plantation or other East Texas plantations came and settled in the area. 

Establishment of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church
Churches have always been an important part of the Joppa community. New Zion Missionary Baptist Church was founded in 1882 by Reverend and Sister Haverty, Deacon and Sister J. Floyd, and Deacon and Sister Pierce, at a home on the corner of Ervay and Colonial. The church relocated to its present location in Joppa in 1888. According to the New Zion’s current website “The church building once served as a schoolhouse, a temporary pediatric clinic for our children and a voting place for this precinct.” Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church is known to be the second oldest church in the neighborhood.

It was around the time of the New Zion’s relocation to Joppa that the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad was constructed, arriving near Joppa in 1886 with Miller’s Station. While the area remained agricultural, the new local infrastructure brought increased development, including the establishment of Honey Springs, a nearby town settled around a H.&T.C. station of the same name. An article in the Dallas Morning News indicates that in 1888, Henry Critz, the founder of Joppa, was living in nearby Millers Switch. A 1930 article written by the grandson of W.B. Miller wrote that Critz continued to operate the Miller Ferry until 1890, when a flood washed out the landing. The Miller’s Ferry Bridge was built soon after, making the ferry service obsolete. 

Early Dallas map showing homes, churches, and infrastructure. Street, Samuel M. Sam Street's map of Dallas County, Texas. Dallas, Tex.: Sam Street, 1900. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005625344/

Families continued to make their home in Joppa. The Sam Street’s map from 1900 indicates that there were at least 7 families in that area at the time, including the Harrel’s, the Pierce’s, the West’s, the Curry’s, the Horn’s, and the Allison’s. 

Mrs. Laura Belle Foster and Mr. P.H. Foster (center and left) and their family. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Delveeta Thompson, Mrs. Foster’s grand daughter, right.

Neighborhood Organizing
Over the coming decades more residents continued to settle in Joppa. Neighborhood organizer Laura Belle Foster (nee Davis) first moved to Dallas in 1924. After a time away to attend college in California, Mrs. Foster returned to Dallas for good, moving to Joppa when the South Central Expressway expanded and displaced her family and other residents in the Black neighborhood of Queen City. In addition to raising 2 children, she taught Sunday School at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, was on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce, served on the Board of Equalization for the Wilmer-Hutchins Independent School District, among many other civic commitments. Under the Dallas Negro Chamber and led by Mrs. Foster and her husband P.H. Foster, in 1948 the South Central Civic League was organized to fight for community programs and services, stating:

THE OBJECTIVES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. To get better bus services.

2. To get traffic signs for our schools.

3. To get better mail services.

4. Annexation to the city of Dallas

5. To get better sanitation for our community,

6. To get fire plugs for our safety

7. To get water for our community 

Ms. Shalondria Jackson, current President of the South Central Civic League, shares a story about Melissa Pierce

Mrs. and Mr. Foster and their daughter made Joppa’s first street signs out of lumber they purchased, digging holes and installing them throughout the neighborhood.In addition to the fight for city services, Mrs. Foster and other residents fought for civil rights. Mrs. Foster's grand-daughter Mrs. Delveeta Thompson described that fight in her text “Joppa History Report”:

Many residents suchs as the Crowders, Lovely, Sorrells, Miles, Hosus, Blacks gathered together to support these efforts with their biggest battles for the school and the right to vote. Laura Belle has Commissioner Jim Tyson, Senator Oscar Mauzy, City Officials Mike McKool and Royce O. to assist in their right to vote and later assisted in getting our long established polling places at the oldest church, New Zion Baptist Church.

The Joppa area in 1930. Image courtesy of the City of Dallas

Joppa Schools 
From when it was formed in 1927 until the district was dissolved in 1970, Joppa was in the Willmer-Hutchins Independent School District. Black students were not allowed to attend white schools and had to attend schools for Black students, which districts were not eager to build or invest in. For many years there was no official school building in Joppa. New Zion Baptist Church was used as a school, or students walked to another neighborhood, sometimes having to cross through dangerous conditions to get there. Mrs. Thompson described how Joppa’s school, the Melissa Pierce School, came to be:

My mother and my uncle, they ended up with a lot of students from this neighborhood having to walk the railroad track over into South Dallas. They used the church partly as a school for the community, but when my mother and uncles and those that grew up with them out here, were actually walking the train tracks, they were going to high school then would had asked Southern Pacific Railroad to hold the trains up during the time that all of the students from this community around my, my group, my mother and my uncles age would have to walk the tracks so that they could walk safely over and then they will stop the train so they could return safely back to the neighborhood. That really lit the fire, that there was a school that was needed in this neighborhood. So for my grandmother explaining it to me, then Ms. Melissa Pierce, knowing that this is what needs to be done. My grandmother rather went to the Wilmer Hutchins school board and asked them for a school. And of course in that day it was not going to happen, and it didn't happen. They did tell my grandmother, unless you come up with the land, we're not building your people a school at the time….Mr. Hitt was the superintendent and the president of Wilmer Hutchins school board. The building sat on Illinois not far from here. And my grandmother would get people together on their days off and sit under a couple of trees with pallets, what they call pallets, you know throw blankets of quilt and have lunch and sit in trying to get them to get them a church, a school, you know, or a building for them. Not not just to keep having it in the church, but to be actually able to have an official school building. So needless to say, when they did say buy the land and then we'll build it - my grandmother said put it in writing. You know, Ms. Melissa Pierce was present, so Ms. Pierce. told my grandmother: "Definitely I can donate the land." And so that's how it came about. All of the land for the school building as well as a football, baseball field so the kids wouldn't have to worry about not having enough room for those particular activities. 

According to Mrs. Thompson, Melissa Pierce was a formerly enslaved person whose family acquired land after emancipation. The Sam Street’s Map has a Pierce family in Joppa, indicating they were one of the earliest settlers of the area. A 1948 Dallas Morning News article described a new 4-room brick building that would be built for Black students of the district, and would consolidate four segregated schools. The Melissa Pierce School was dedicated on September 28th, 1952. The City of Dallas’ National Historic Registry application for the Melissa Pierce School says that:

The building was constructed to accommodate grades 1-12 and those who attended the school recall that the smaller building contained the elementary grades. The classrooms in the larger building, with the attached gym/auditorium, were for middle/high school students. Two areas which were later added on for classrooms, one to the side of the gym and the other to the side of the smaller classroom building, have since been demolished.

Unlike white schools, the Melissa Pierce School started in October instead of September to accommodate local White farmers who wanted Black students to be available to pick cotton in the late summer. Parents didn’t want their children’s education to be interrupted. In 1954, the Dallas NAACP organized parents in the Joppee community to demand admission for students into the all-white school, Linfield Elementary. They were denied by the Principal of Linfield stating the Texas Education Agency called for segregated schools. 

The Joppa area in 1940. Image courtesy of the City of Dallas

Joppa annexed into City of Dallas 
In the late 1940s and 50s, the City of Dallas annexed a number of towns and unincorporated areas around Dallas. The nearby town of Honey Springs was annexed in 1946. Joppa was annexed into Dallas October 3, 1955. Despite being part of Dallas, Joppa continued to be part of the Wilmer-Hutchins school district. Joppa resident Edgar Green described his experience with being bussed to WHISD after grade-school:

I went to elementary and some junior high (at Melissa Pierce). Then finished my junior high at Bishop, Bishop Heights, and my high school and at Kennedy. I went, some of my elementary was, at the A.L. Morney down in Hutchins. You know, bussed, I was always bussed, but not to the white school, the black schools. Then when desegregation came, then they took some of the black kids to the white school and some of the white kids to the black school. 

In 1970, facing potential federal prosecution for failure to integrate WHISD schools, the Wilmer-Hutchins ISD board adopted a plan to integrate the district by August of that year. Melissa Pierce School was “phased out”, with the lower grades sent to Wilmer and Hutchins elementary schools. The building was subsequently auctioned off in 1972. In August 1970, more than 1,000 white residents of the Wilmer-Hutchins district who were unhappy with the prospect of integration, fought for the annexation of southern Wilmer-Hutchins district into the nearby, mostly white, Ferris school system. The southern half of Wilmer-Hutchins was 90% white, while the northern half was 90% Black. In November of 1970, the motion was approved, Wilmer-Hutchins ISD was dissolves - the southern half of the school district was absorbed by Ferris ISD, and the northern half absorbed by Dallas ISD.  

The Joppa area in 1962. Image courtesy of the City of Dallas

Ms. Claudia Denise Fowler shares a story about Ms. Charlie Mae Jackson

Infrastructure
The South Central Civic League continued to fight for improvements in the neighborhood. Up until the 1970s, residents would carpool to public transportation. The neighborhood organized to get bus service along Carbondale, which would take residents to the end of the Ervay Streetcar line in South Dallas, or to downtown. In an interview, Mrs. Delveeta Thompson describes the work of Mrs. Charlie Mae Jackson, who led the South Central Civic League from the 1990s to 2000s, to improve infrastructure in Joppa. A 1955 street map shows that the neighborhood was practically divided in half, connected only via Carbondale Street. Edgar Green describes the division: “Fosters crossing Honey Spring Branch - that's the river, the creek that runs through here, they called this Honey Springs. You know, believe it or not, before that you had to come out and go down Burma road and then go down here to Carbondale to go to the other side. We only had, you know, one way to get to the other side.” Mrs. Foster worked with residents to have a direct connection built between the two halves of the neighborhood. And on May 15, 1999, a plaque was placed near Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, declaring it “Foster’s Crossing” in dedication to South Central Civic League leaders Laura Belle Foster and P.H. Foster. Although Mr. Foster passed away before the project was complete, Mrs. Foster was able to see the street and travel Foster’s Crossing herself. 

Foster’s Crossing wasn’t the only infrastructure improvement residents have fought for in recent years. For decades, crossing the train tracks at Linfield was the only way in or out of the neighborhood. Throughout its history, at-street-grade crossing of the trains proved not only a nuisance but a danger to Joppa residents. In the 1990s, residents organized to get bond funding from the City to build a bridge over the train tracks. Mrs. Delveeta Thompson wrote of the push for the new bridge:

This was due to the loss of many lives of loved ones needing an Emergency Medical Unit/Paramedics Assistance, but they were detained for long periods because a train moving 100 plus freight cars, switching freight cars or what we and our ancestors experiences as non-moving freight cars with a waiting period of 30 minutes to one hour and 45 minutes. Southern/Union Pacific showed no compassion nor have any regard to the life-threatening situations of husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, grandparents nor children and uncles/aunts.

Program for the opening of the Linfield Bridge. Courtesy of Mrs. Delveeta Thompson

But the bridge project was delayed, faltering a few times until in 2007, the neighborhood celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Freedman’s Town Memorial Bridge, which provides another connection to Joppa, over the railroad tracks. And while the bridge was hard fought, some residents don’t feel that the solution fully addressed the problem. 

I would have said that ain't wide enough, how are pedestrians supposed to get across it? I would have said that because it's common sense. But when people don't involve enough people or where people that might have some knowledge about some things that you might not have knowledge about - you don't get to pool all that knowledge together to come up with a good viable situation, a solution. And that's what I think happened to the bridge.

Program for the unveiling of the Joppee Historical Marker Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Courtesy of Mrs. Delveeta Thompson

Joppa Today
In the past decade the neighborhood has continued to see change. Over 100 new homes have been built, bringing new residents to the area. While the Melissa Pierce School remains closed, residents would like to see it returned to a community use. Since there is no school in the community, students go to school at South Oak Cliff, Roosevelt, or other schools throughout Dallas. In 2015, South Central Park, with a gazebo and splash pad was opened. The following year the neighborhood celebrated the unveiling of its historical marker at the park. The South Central Civic League continues to operate to this day, fighting for the neighborhood. In addition to working toward building a community multipurpose center and putting in place a neighborhood stabilization overlay, fifth generation Joppa resident and current Civic League president Shalondria Galimore was a vision for the neighborhood:

What we're trying to do now is to further stabilize what we actually have and to preserve what we have now. We want to be at the table when economic development comes in to see what that looks like and what's best for the community. I think that we need mixed income in the community to help stabilize because Joppa will not be able to survive on the present income or the present voting role that we have actually at this time. We need to work with the companies that are around us that have been neighbors that have tried to be friendly neighbors, and to let them know what our thoughts and desires are and how they can help us attain or further sustain those goals that we have.

2019 State of Dallas Housing Report: Heirs Property

Each year, bcANALYTICS releases its State of Dallas Housing Report, a data-driven assessment of the housing landscape in the city. In 2019, rather than releasing the report in a single document, we have decided to roll it out over the course of three installments in order to be more responsive to current needs and changes as the City of Dallas begins to implement its first ever Comprehensive Housing Report. 

Our analytics team has been working hard and the first installment of the State of Dallas Housing is here! This report assesses the scale, distribution and impact of heirs property on neighborhoods and individuals in Dallas County. 

Read the full report here!

Community History Harvest at the Dallas West Branch Library

Residents of West Dallas are invited to join us on Saturday, April 27th at the Dallas West Branch Library from 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm for a community history harvest. This will be the first event in our collaboration with the Dallas Public Library to further the digitization and oral history aspects of the Neighborhood Stories program.

Folks from across the area are invited to share photos, documents, and oral histories about their community, to be recorded and digitized for the Dallas Public Library’s public collection. Participants will also receive digital copies of their photos and documents, preserving these important artifacts for future generations to learn from.

In consideration of time, we ask that residents bring up to five artifacts to be digitized. Examples of items to bring include:

• Family or school photos

• Yearbooks

• Menus from local restaurants

• Property surveys or maps

• Church programs

We are looking forward to learning from and with the residents of West Dallas’s neighborhoods about the local history and how their communities experienced change during the Civil Rights period and beyond. The topics to be explored include the role of city planning, development, and school desegregation with the ultimate goal of understanding how historic inequities have shaped the communities we see today. The collective neighborhood history gathered from the archival event, interviews with community members, and our research about the area will culminate in an exhibition at the Dallas West Branch Library.

[bc] encourages any individuals and organizations who are interested in participating in this effort to reach out to Lizzie MacWillie, Associate Director, who will lead the project. Stay tuned for future updates on the details of this digitization event.

This project has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

[bc] Receives Common Heritage Grant from the NEH

We are excited to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to partner with the Dallas Public Library for a new project which will further the digitization and oral history aspects of the Neighborhood Stories program through events and exhibitions in the neighborhoods served by the Library’s Polk-Wisdom, Dallas West, and Martin Luther King Jr. Branches.

This collaboration builds off of several years of work by [bc] to collect and preserve Dallas’s local histories as they relate to changes in the physical and cultural form of the city. Through oral histories and physical artifacts like photos and documents, the project will document how these changes have had an impact on Dallas’s historic communities of color and how residents experienced cultural and demographic shifts in their neighborhoods during the Civil Rights period and beyond.

Topics to be explored include city planning, development, and school desegregation. Ultimately, [bc] hopes to advance a greater understanding of the way in which historical inequities have had a role in shaping the communities we see today. Given various efforts currently taking place across the city to better understand issues of racial equity and how future development may impact vulnerable communities, the project will leverage this momentum to engage Dallasites in a re-examination of local histories.

Project activities will begin in 2019. [bc] encourages any individuals and organizations who are interested in participating in this effort to reach out to Lizzie MacWillie, Associate Director, who will lead the project.

Stay tuned for future updates on the dates and locations of digitization events in these three locales.

This project has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A Road Map to Dallas' Equitable Development

Vea a continuación la traducción a español.

WHAT IS THE JPMORGAN CHASE PRO NEIGHBORHOODS GRANT PROGRAM?

Partnerships for Raising Opportunity in Neighborhoods (PRO Neighborhoods) is a $125 million, five-year initiative to provide communities with the capital and tools they need to support locally-driven solutions and address key drivers of inequality across the country.

The program uses an equitable development approach to economic growth by helping cities implement comprehensive strategies that address barriers to economic mobility.

WHAT IS EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT?

Equitable development works to ensure quality of life outcomes are equitably experienced by those currently living, working, and moving into a neighborhood (i.e. affordable housing, quality education, living wage employment, healthy environments, and transportation).

Equitable public and private investments, programs, and policies in neighborhoods will meet the needs of residents (specifically communities of color) and reduce historical and current disparities (Adopted from GARE).

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?

This pilot program will be developed with partners in three Dallas-area neighborhoods identified in the City of Dallas Comprehensive Housing Policy as being vulnerable to rapid transition:

•  The Forest District in South Dallas/Fair Park

• The Bottom neighborhood in East Oak Cliff

• West Dallas’ Census Tract 205

WHY ARE THESE PARTNERS WORKING TOGETHER?

Through our collective approach, we recognize that deliberate, collaborative planning is necessary to ensuring the equitable development of these neighborhoods and supporting economically vibrant and diverse communities. This includes access to affordable housing, vibrant neighborhood centers, small business growth, healthy food options, parks, and arts and culture.

The PRO Neighborhoods Planning Grant will expedite, institutionalize, and expand our existing collaborative efforts, enabling us to learn from one another and, together, build a roadmap for inclusive development in Dallas.

——————-

¿CUÁL ES EL JPMORGAN CHASE PRO VECINDARIO GRANT PROGRAM?

Asociaciones para elevar oportunidad en vecindario (PRO Vecindarios) es de $125 millones, la iniciativa de cinco años para proporcionar a las comunidades con la capital y las herramientas que necesitan para apoyar soluciones impulsadas localmente y abordar los principales impulsores de la desigualdad en el país.

El programa utiliza un enfoque de desarrollo equitativo del crecimiento económico ayudando a ciudades implementar estrategias integrales que aborden las barreras a la movilidad económica.

¿QUÉ ES EL DESARROLLO EQUITATIVO?

Desarrollo Equitativo trabaja para asegurar la calidad de vida equitativa de los resultados experimentados por quienes actualmente están viviendo, trabajando y moviéndose en un vecindario (es decir, la vivienda asequible, educación de calidad, viviendo el empleo asalariado, entornos saludables, y el transporte).

Equitativa de las inversiones públicas y privadas, programas y políticas en barrios va a satisfacer las necesidades de los residentes (concretamente las comunidades de color) y reducir las disparidades históricas y actuales (de la GARE aprobado).

¿EN DONDE ESTÁ SUCEDIENDO?

Este programa piloto se desarrollará a través de la colaboración con socios en tres vecindarios del área de Dallas identificados en la política de vivienda como los más vulnerables a la transición rápida:

• El "Forest District" en el Sur de Dallas/Fair Park

•  El vecindario "The Bottom" al este de Oak Cliff

• Zona censal 205 en "West Dallas"

¿POR QUÉ SON ESTOS SOCIOS TRABAJAN JUNTOS?

A través de nuestro enfoque colectivo, reconocemos que deliberado, la planificación colaborativa es necesaria para asegurar el desarrollo equitativo de estos vecindarios y apoyar económicamente vibrante y diversas comunidades. Esto incluye el acceso a una vivienda asequible, vibrantes centros vecinales, el crecimiento de las pequeñas empresas, las opciones de alimentos saludables, los parques, las artes y la cultura.

La subvención de planificación PRO Vecindarios acelerará, institucionalizar y ampliar nuestros esfuerzos de colaboración existentes, lo que nos permite aprender continuamente el de uno del a otro y, juntos, construir una hoja de ruta para el desarrollo inclusivo en Dallas.

Bridging the Block Wrap-Up

This fall [bc]’s Bridging the Block project set out to hear from Dallasites about some of the challenges they face when trying to use the sidewalks of Downtown Dallas. Through a series of design meetings and a tour, participants identified the biggest problems hindering mobility, and workshopped design solutions. The most pressing issues singled-out included broken and narrow sidewalks, steepness of driveways, a lack of curb cuts, visibility issues, and poles or debris blocking the public.

[bc] and participants concluded that recognizing an issue can be the first step to solving it, and that people often don’t recognize something is a problem unless they have been personally impacted by it or know someone who has. This understanding framed the approach to the final installation: not only would the final product include a method to address the issues seen and discussed, it would also make it a point to highlight the issues and the various populations they alienate on a daily basis.

The final work is a kit of parts that together create different configurations of temporary “bridges” on the sidewalks of Marilla Street between City Hall and the Farmers Market - a stretch of sidewalk in such poor condition that it is extremely difficult to navigate. These “bridges” are mobile installations that raise awareness of accessibility issues in public space and celebrate creating a city accessible to everyone. To accompany the bridges, [bc] built a series of signs featuring pictographs and text that explain the challenges the ramps address. As a whole, the installation uses color, texture, and modularity to create awareness about the breadth of mobility challenges and experiences in public space.

There will be another opportunity to see the installations at the #MarillaMakeover Grand Opening on Friday, Nov. 16, 11:30 am - 2:00 pm.

The Bridging the Block project is supported by AARP and coincides with the #MarillaMakeover Project currently being led by Downtown Dallas Inc. and the City of Dallas’ Planning and Urban Design Department.

Smart Growth for Dallas Decision Support Tool Launched!

We are excited to announce the launch of the Smart Growth for Dallas Interactive Decision Support Tool, produced in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, and the Texas Trees Foundation.

The Decision Support Tool can help stakeholders working across various sectors identify the areas of our city where investments in green infrastructure can have the greatest possible impact.

The Decision Support Tool has been released in conjunction with a User Guide, descriptions of the data sources used in this analysis, and PDFs of the Smart Growth for Dallas priority maps (Absorb and Protect, Connect, Cool, Equity, and Health). The site also features a Story Map, through which you can learn more about the project and the analysis results.

Visit this link to explore the full site!

Bridging the Block

This fall [bc]’s Bridging the Block project will be installing temporary “bridges” on the sidewalks of Marilla Street between City Hall and the Farmers Market. These “bridges” will be a group of mobile installations that aim to raise awareness of accessibility issues in public spaces and celebrate creating a city accessible to everyone.

We have held several community design meetings to hear from people about their experiences as a pedestrian in downtown Dallas and the ways they would approach addressing the issues at hand. The meetings set out to identify accessibility issues and have conversations about who would be impacted by these limitations. We learned from participants about the challenges of broken and narrow sidewalks, steepness of driveways, a lack of curb cuts, visibility issues, and poles or debris blocking the paths.

The conversations touched on whether minimum accessibility requirements were sufficient in addressing the needs of all. One issue identified was the challenge of navigating textured pavers found at crosswalks with a walker. Another topic of concern was safety and the small but important design decisions that could address this concern—from street lights to reflective materials that would indicate the presence of a pedestrian to oncoming traffic.

The Opening Day Lunch and Conversation will be on Friday, Nov. 2, 12:00 to 1:30 pm. You will have another opportunity to see the installations at the #MarillaMakeover project Grand Opening on Friday, Nov. 16.

The Bridging the Block project is supported by AARP and will coincide with the #MarillaMakeover project currently being led by Downtown Dallas Inc. and the City of Dallas’ Planning and Urban Design Department.