Dallas News
We asked Dallas ISD for details on bond dollars. They told us to pay up.
Information about the district's 2015 and 2020 bond programs should be available online. But the available data is sometimes contradictory.
Follow-up: Dallas ISD’s pandemic plan to connect students didn’t work, new cheaper plan is now in effect
Dallas ISD abandons private wireless network to focus on effective ways to provide internet access at home for students who don't have it.
Civic explainer: What is a ‘placetype’?
After years of work, the City of Dallas is months away from having an updated land use policy, called ForwardDallas. "Placetypes" are central to understanding the plan and how it will affect Dallas residents and property owners.
Housing Forward sees more than 2,000 residents in homeless system at end of 2023
Data presented at this month’s Dallas Area Partnership to End and Prevent Homelessness meeting led to more questions from partnership members. Members seemed especially surprised that two-thirds of unhoused residents surveyed in 2022 self-reported that they were experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to Housing Forward’s Homeless Management Information System. The partnership is a […]
Meeting barriers: What Documenters have learned about Dallas public meetings
When we launched the Dallas Documenters program in Spring 2023, we intended to train and pay residents to attend public meetings like any other resident would and to break down access barriers. Documenter programs are nationwide, and we knew we would very quickly find issues accessing public meetings. Although the Freedom of Information Act and […]
Where has the 2017 Dallas bond money gone?
Take a look at our spreadsheets to find out what 2017 Dallas bond projects have and have not been completed over the last seven years.
Civic explainer: What is the Dallas City Charter, and how can neighbors change it?
This coming November, the people of Dallas will vote not only for the presidential election, but also for proposed amendments to Dallas’ City Charter. Until this Friday, Jan. 19, anyone in Dallas is invited to submit an amendment proposal to be considered for the citywide ballot. Feedback on proposed amendments is welcomed by the CRC and City Council from now through the finalization of amendments before the November election.
Great Trinity Forest leak spills 3.6 million gallons of water, Environmental Commission questions Dallas Water Utilities’ response
Bonton representatives want to know why no one told them about a city water leak lasting 11 months and spilling more than 3.6 million gallons of water into their community. The Dallas Environmental Commission brought up these questions in an October meeting with Dallas Water Utilities. DWU Assistant Director Regina Stencel presented to the commission. […]
Dallas Park Board questions efforts to connect minority and women-owned businesses to city projects
The latest on City of Dallas MWBE contracts During a September meeting, members of the Dallas Park and Recreation Board questioned the effectiveness of connecting minority and women-owned businesses to city projects. This was after the Dallas Park and Recreation Board approved projects and contracts and noticed a lack of minority and women-owned businesses applying […]
$67 million community park, outdated facilities highlighted in Fair Park First annual report
The latest on Fair Park First’s efforts: Fair Park First showcased their 2023 annual report to the Park and Recreation Board during the board’s September meeting. The report included the groundbreaking plans for a new community park and budgets for updating facilities. Why this matters to South Dallas: Fair Park First has a 20-year city […]
District 6 residents ask for improvements to fire station, Jaycee-Zaragoza Recreation Center during bond town hall
The latest: District 6 residents prioritized two projects for the 2024 bond: improvements to a community fire station and the Jaycee-Zaragoza Recreation Center. The city’s Office of Bond and Construction Management hosted a town hall meeting last month at the recreation center on the proposed 2024 Capital Bond Program so neighbors could provide input. Why […]
Demand for protesting property values goes up as families fight to stay in their homes
Property tax consultant Toby Toler worked with more than 100 people over DCAD’s four-week protest period in April and May. He feels like the majority of the people he helped in Southern Dallas were able to successfully challenge their property values and lower their taxes.
South and West Dallas residents seek relief from extreme heat
The City of Dallas has been working with Reliant Energy for 14 years to help those who may not have access to air conditioning during the summer months. The “Beat the Heat” initiative includes 15 centers in North Texas. In Dallas, the two locations are the West Dallas Multipurpose Center and the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.
Back-to-school events with school supply giveaways near you
Here is a list of Back to School events happening in your community that will have backpack and school supplies giveaways, health and family resources and other services for students.
Dallas ISD parents unclear on why clear backpacks are needed for pre-K and elementary students
Dallas ISD is requiring all students, including preschoolers as young as 3-year-olds, to carry a clear backpack as part of the district’s “ongoing effort to ensure safer schools.”
Dallas Free Press seeks a civic producer for its Documenters network
Dallas Free Press is seeking a journalist or writer/researcher with a passion for local government, policy and power in Dallas to support our team as our Civic Producer.
Dallas Free Press seeks a program manager for its local Documenters network
Dallas Free Press is seeking a Program Manager to lead our local arm of the award-winning Documenters program, which trains and pays residents to produce information in the public interest.
Three ways you can get involved in the new Dallas Documenters Network
In early 2023. Dallas Free Press will be the 10th newsroom in America to host the Documenters Network, which recruits, trains and, most importantly, pays residents for their time spent attending meetings, taking notes to contribute to the public record, and sharing back to their communities.
Dallas Free Press seeks a journalism pathway coordinator to work with high school students
Dallas Free Press is looking for a journalism pathway coordinator to work with students in South Dallas and West Dallas on writing, storytelling, civic engagement, media literacy and critical thinking skills that would benefit them no matter what career they choose.
Addressing the digital divide: Dallas Public Library adds ‘thousands of devices’ to its library branches
More than two years after the Dallas Public Library added laptops and hotspots to its circulation catalog, they’re still in high demand.
Preguntas y respuestas: Qué saber sobre el pasado y el futuro ambiental de West Dallas
Conceptos clave en la lucha de West Dallas por librarse de los contaminadores, incluida la importancia de la zonificación, los permisos y la acción cívica.
The site of Dallas’ original Black high school, erased from history, will become a taxpayer-subsidized Kroger project
Kroger is set to build a new grocery store and apartments on “expensive," “desirable” land where one of Dallas’ oldest Black schools, B.F. Darrell, was built as the original Colored High School.
A town, a cemetery and a school: Dallas’ history of erasure repeats itself
Dallas decimated its largest Freedman’s Town and obscured both a cemetery and a school, B.F. Darrell, vital to the community.
Dallas forgot: Remembering and reclaiming the Black schools we’ve lost
For every Black school heralded and remembered, there are schools that have been erased from Dallas' public memory and are largely unknown today.
Dallas Free Press is hiring a development manager
Dallas Free Press is seeking an adept communicator who is highly organized to build strong relationships with potential major donors, funders and corporate sponsors.
Local newsrooms, universities and nonprofits join forces to focus on affordable housing in Dallas
The key partners on the project say affordable housing is a topic none of them has been able to consistently address on their own — but it’s a vital, systemic issue demanding greater response.
Community-centered journalist needed at Dallas Free Press
Dallas Free Press is looking for a full-time journalist to listen to the residents of South Dallas and West Dallas, two of the city’s historically redlined neighborhoods, to ensure their stories are told and their voices are heard. The role focuses first and foremost on community journalism and prioritizes the civic issues emerging from these […]
Dallas Free Press launches a journalism pathway, seeks a coordinator
Dallas Free Press has launched a journalism pathway from Dallas high schools to Dallas newsrooms, starting with efforts to educate high school students. We are looking for a part-time journalism pathway coordinator to work with students in South Dallas and West Dallas.
New Dallas Media Collaborative seeks its first project manager
The Dallas Media Collaborative is searching for a part-time Project Manager to coordinate and lead its efforts toward a connected, city-wide solutions journalism network.
Dallas: We need your input on news consumption and local media coverage
This Dallas Free Press survey will inform our community journalism efforts in South Dallas and West Dallas, and help our launching-soon local media collaborative determine its focus topic.
Reporter sought for Dallas Free Press, Dallas Morning News ‘food apartheid’ project
The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Free Press, in partnership with the national Solutions Journalism Network, are looking for a reporter to spend the next five months reporting on "food apartheid" in Dallas.
What Dallas ISD parents are (and aren’t) being told about MAP tests
Co-published with our media partner, Advocate magazines On Sept. 1, seven days before Dallas ISD students began remote learning, the district announced that students would need to return to their schools in person for three hours during the month of September to take the MAP test. Why did Dallas ISD ask my children to take a […]
New racial equity leader appointed to guide Dallas ISD efforts
Co-published by our media partner, the Dallas Weekly Two years into its existence, Dallas ISD’s racial equity office has a new leader, Sharon Quinn. She replaces Leslie Williams, whom Supt. Michael Hinojosa appointed to lead the office in 2018 when it was created. Quinn moved to back to Texas from South Carolina in 2017 to […]