South Dallas visionaries: In business and the arts
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The future of South Dallas includes a thriving business and arts landscape.
Just ask Zach Thompson and Hank Lawson, the current leader and founder, respectively, of the Pointe South Business Group. For nearly three years, they’ve brought together the neighborhood’s property owners and business leaders at monthly meetings, which are frequented by City of Dallas staff.
Pointe South’s goal? To help ensure that as millions of private and public dollars are funneled into South Dallas, the beneficiaries aren’t just new investors and developers but also the neighborhood’s longtime residents and landowners.
Dallas Free Press has attended Pointe South meetings for the last two years, listening and learning from the spectrum of community expertise. Full agreement is rare, but there is group consensus around the urgency of this present moment.
“I don’t have to tell you this market is hot, hot, hot. Everybody wants to buy our land and do something, but we know what has happened in the past,” Lawson said at a recent meeting, pointing to historical displacement and the demise of Black neighborhoods like Deep Ellum and State Thomas.
“We have to be vigilant.”
Read Christina Hughes Babb’s piece about the real estate challenges and opportunities in South Dallas’ Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Corridor, where Pointe South focuses its efforts. Attend the next Pointe South meeting on Monday, Oct. 27 at 11:15 a.m.
Likewise, the arts and cultural scene in South Dallas is at a turning point. Three new leaders at the the African-American Museum, the Forest Theater and the South Dallas Cultural Center recently came together at Dallas Free Press’ invitation to discuss their roles, their institutions’ storied history, and how they want to work together to enrich the South Dallas community.
“I want, and I hope, and I dream that our institutions collaborate,” VanAnthony Williams of the South Dallas Cultural Center voiced during the roundtable, “meaning that beyond the three of us, there’s a lasting impact and a lasting collaborative spirit in our institutions that start with us.”
Watch Camilo Diaz Jr.’s video of their conversation, and subscribe to Dallas Free Press’ YouTube channel to be notified as future shorts and videos are published.
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Keri Mitchell has spent 20+ years as a community journalist, including 15 years dedicated to community and civic journalism at Dallas’ Advocate magazines. She launched Dallas Free Press in early 2020 with the belief that all neighborhoods deserve reporting and storytelling that values their community and holds leaders accountable.
Mitchell says she is energized by “knowing our work is making an impact — listening to people, telling their stories with strong narratives paired with compelling data that leads to change. I also love spending time in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors, learning from them and working to determine how journalism can be part of the solution to their challenges.”
Mitchell is proud to be the winner of multiple awards during her journalism career including: Finalist in Magazine Feature Reporting (2018) and Finalist in Magazine Investigative Reporting (2017) from Hugh Aynesworth Excellence in Journalism, Best Feature Story (2011) from Texas Community Newspaper Association and Best Magazine Feature (2011) from Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards.
Areas of Expertise:
local government, education, civic issues, investigative and enterprise reporting
Location Expertise:
Dallas, Texas
Official Title:
Founder + executive director
Email Address:
keri@dallasfreepress.com
