Zoning info that won’t make you zone out
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Who says civic information has to be boring?
Certainly not us. We’re having a lot of fun telling civic stories these days in our ongoing efforts to dispel that myth.
Take for example Camilo Diaz Jr.’s latest visual story. It looks at the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan and the authorized hearing process to make its zoning recommendations permanent.
Did your eyes just glaze over? We understand. It doesn’t get much more civically complicated than that.
But Diaz’ video simplifies and contextualizes these complex issues.
You see the landscape of South Dallas. You see and hear from the residents who have spent the last five years shepherding the zoning changes. You listen to questions and concerns from neighbors and see examples of what they’re talking about.
We know that nearly 4,000 of you already saw the abbreviated 90-second Instagram reel. But did you watch the full 6-minute story on YouTube? You should.
And while you’re at it, subscribe to Dallas Free Press’ YouTube channel so you’re the first to see when other stories publish.
Another recent visual story features a roundtable discussion between three of South Dallas’ new arts leaders.
As much as we enjoyed the hour-long conversation, we knew not all of you have that kind of time and attention span, so we also broke it up into shorter segments that focus on how they intend to collaborate, what they have in store for next summer’s FIFA Fan Festival at Fair Park, and how they will engage neighborhood students. All of these segments, and the full discussion, are on our YouTube channel as well as our website.
And if you prefer your journalism written, don’t worry — we have plenty of that, too. We’ve been reporting on neighborhood planning and zoning for more than five years, and you can spend all day reading those stories, if you like.
When it comes to content formats and platforms, we’re impartial. Our goal is to use the resources we have to respond to neighbors with the reporting and storytelling they request, in whatever ways will reach them.
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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
