South Dallas

The South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan identifies 2nd Avenue as a key focus area to transform into a walkable corridor featuring retail, restaurants, office space, and housing, with recommendations to change the zoning and create a mixed-use subdistrict to encourage development close to the street and remove parking minimums.

The South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan recommends expanding zoning along Elsie Faye Heggins Street to allow both residential and non-residential development, aiming to ease housing pressure and revitalize the corridor.

The South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan recommends zoning changes and development standards to create a vibrant hub along S. Malcolm X Boulevard, featuring mixed-use subdistricts, low-rise buildings, and no parking requirements to promote small business development and residential housing opportunities.

An area plan intended to dramatically change the way South […]

Six candidates attended a forum to discuss public safety, affordable housing, economic growth, and more, with four of them declaring their support for a historic district in the Queen City neighborhood and an authorized hearing for the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan.

Leading up to the May 3 election, Dallas Free Press […]

In the Bertrand neighborhood of South Dallas, third-generation homeowner Delphine […]

Career Institute East will be renamed after a beloved South […]

A zoning request to build a duplex in a neighborhood […]

A new City of Dallas plan for how land can […]

The decades-old Joseph J. Rhoads school in South Dallas has […]

In a sense, the Zan Wesley Holmes Jr. Community Outreach […]

South Dallas native Norvel Dumas, 27, had been driving without […]

KERA and Dallas TRHT have released a series of documentaries highlighting the history of civil rights and social justice activism in South Dallas and Fair Park, with plans to build curriculum around it to educate youth on the topic.

Earl D. Thomas, a Victory Gardens resident, is a third-generation […]

Neighbors say the temporary improvements fell short of long-term impact […]

Posters and playbills featuring Broadway musicals line the walls of […]

South Dallas community members gathered last weekend for the unveiling […]

Learn about Principal Russell's plans to reverse the declining enrollment, encourage students to pursue higher education and more.

This new “Neighborhood Connect Telehealth Initiative” — a partnership between Aetna CVS Health and the South Dallas Fair Park Faith Coalition, which Salem pastor Todd Atkins chairs — is intended to bring health care directly to South Dallas residents, bypassing barriers such as internet access, transportation, and the historical mistrust of Black Americans in medical care.

The latest This spring the Dallas City Council voted unanimously […]

The latest:  At the most recent City of Dallas Landmark […]

Background information, priorities, and endorsements for District 9 Board of Trustees candidates Oralia Alonso, Da'On Boulanger-Chatman, Ed Turner, and LaKashia Wallace.

What is the job of the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees? How and when are they elected?

What originally started as an effort to revive the theater has expanded in scope, with Forest Forward acquiring several surrounding parcels of land between Julius Schepps Freeway and SM Wright Freeway. Forest Forward now owns the theater, the former liquor store just north of the theater, the gas station next door to the liquor store, and the lots behind the theater where an infamous gambling house once stood.

The nonprofit Forest Forward owns South Dallas' historic Forest Theater and about 20 pieces of land surrounding it.

For more than 50 years, the Park South YMCA has served South Dallas neighbors of all ages through exercise classes, childcare and community events. As part of YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas’ efforts to improve facilities, the Park South building is undergoing a major $15 million renovation, expected to be completed in early 2025.

With the few grocery stores and continuing food apartheid in South Dallas, community organizers have established urban farms and community gardens. While the projects have fostered a sense of community, to what extent have they improved food access?

Bonton Farms is set to open a health clinic in early 2025. Most neighbors are excited for the resource, but some had questions about the farms' communication and decision-making process.

Bonton Farms adds a wellness center to the community as an answer to revitalizing the South Dallas neighborhood, which will open in 2025.

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.

Bonton representatives want to know why no one told them […]

As property taxes rise city-wide, Dallas residents have a variety of options for payment plans or exemptions to lower their burden of the bill.

DART has four rail stops and seven bus routes in […]

Tucked inside the Innercity Community Development Corporation (ICDC) offices off […]

Green Careers Texas opens its first rooftop training site in South Dallas to pave a way towards a living wage through green careers.

The “Great” James Madison High School continues its ongoing construction and the community wants to stay informed on its progress.

The community is excited about the new amenities and upgrades to their Park South YMCA, but permit delays leave them without their Y until the end of 2024 or early 2025.

On August 28, Fair Park First CEO Brian Luallen presented plans for a community park and parking garage, seeking input from South Dallas.

South Dallas residents face hurdles in accessing social security benefits and struggle through a lengthy process with uncertain results.

The new cloud kitchen at 2839 S. Ervay is the final piece in Cornerstone Baptist Church’s development project at The Crossing. Pastor Chris Simmons says this space gives local entrepreneurs the opportunity to expand their business and create affordable and livable wages in the neighborhood.

This excerpt from Ernest McMillan’s book, “Standing: One Man’s Odyssey through the Turbulent ’60s" is a glimpse into the work of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in South Dallas.

Lincoln High School welcomes a new principal, Lance Williams. Dallas Free Press sat down for a conversation with Williams to learn more about his vision for the 2023-24 school year.

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.

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 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.”

H-E-B’s press release announced the new stores would be Joe V’s Smart Shop, which offers “a price-conscious shopping experience.” Both will be located in southern Dallas; the first store opening next summer at the corner of West Wheatland Road and Highway 67, and a second store opening in 2025 at the corner of Buckner and Samuell boulevards.

“Fair Park has a lot of historical significance,” Moore says as he describes the panoramic painting in the courtyard of the South Dallas Cultural Center.  He chose to paint a chronological display of Fair Park’s role in promoting the understanding and awareness of Juneteenth.

The Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Museum recently reopened on Wendelkin Street in South Dallas. Honoring the legacy of Mrs. Kathlyn Joy Gilliam, the museum showcases the civil rights leader’s life story featuring original furnishings, photos, and artifacts in the home she lived in for 35 years.

The South Dallas Fair Park Public Improvement District is coming to an end. Property owners of neighborhood homes and businesses advocated against extending the PID for another seven years, saying they didn’t feel the additional tax burden translated to tangible community benefits.

Ferrell Fellows' business model is simple: She buys off-market properties in South Dallas in need of serious repairs then renovates these homes, preserving character and history. They become residences for first-time homebuyers, long-term rentals for people not ready to take that leap, and shared housing for people she comes across in her community work, everyone from single parents to immigrants to prostitutes.

Fellows believes everyone deserves a dignified way to live.

South Dallas District 7 has a new plan commissioner — Tabitha Wheeler-Reagan. She will join 14 plan commissioners to hear zoning cases and make recommendations to the City Council.

Desiree Powell hopes that the food park can be a living example of Black excellence and history in South Dallas. That’s one of the reasons she decided to partner with Fair Park First.

Watermark submitted a proposal to the City of Dallas for a new planned development district (PD) for the almost 10-acre space on July 12 — less than two weeks before it held its second community meeting.

A task force on safe communities is spending $150,000 to help clean up nearly 600 vacant lots in Mill City, with the goal of cutting crime along with the grass in the neighborhood.

Last year, Madel Perez coached the Park South YMCA Sharks into a fifth-place victory in the regional competition. What made this such a remarkable win was that the South Dallas Sharks were one of the few teams with a diverse group of students.

Tabitha Wheeler-Reagan, the co-chair of the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan Task Force, says the neighborhood’s PD 595 deters new businesses from coming into South Dallas. PD 595’s initial goals were to police alcohol sales and prevent gentrification, she explains, but she and the task force believe the zoning needs to be updated — still protecting the community, but encouraging local entrepreneurs, too.

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.

South Dallas’ newest summer attraction resides along South Malcolm X […]

Phase 4 of the month-long food park aimed to create a community environment for South Dallas residents and businesses of color.

A bombshell dropped on South Dallas this week when Froswa’ Booker-Drew announced that her last day at the State Fair of Texas would be next Friday, April 15.

Already, 65,000 people in DFW are enrolled in Amazon’s SNAP delivery program, but the company found that people who live in “food deserts” weren’t using the service, so launched a new outreach program Jan. 1.

The Hon. Diane Ragsdale, who will turn 70 this year, has spent her entire life in South Dallas. Her story has been shaped by the neighborhood and, likewise, she has shaped her neighborhood in significant ways. She’s still fighting some of the same issues that led her to run for Council, and as a registered nurse, she approaches the systems as she would her patients — a belief in preventative medicine that will treat the underlying causes, not just the symptoms.

Southpoint is proving to be a miracle in this sparsely populated South Dallas neighborhood between Al Lipscomb and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. Access to healthy, affordable food has been among the top concerns for residents here.

Janie Cisneros credits her neighborhood-based activism to serendipity. She is the leader of Singleton United/Unidos, a newly established neighborhood association in West Dallas, fighting for clean air and the removal of the long-standing roofing shingles plant, GAF, from her residential neighborhood.

Highland Hills fresh foods grocery store, Save-U-More, struggles to stay open and widen the food desert gaps happening in South Dallas.

DART’s GoLink program is to easily get riders to a nearby rail station in areas where bus routes are scarce. Still, leaders found there was a significant need for more accessible transportation within the neighborhood. DART's Golink Pilot service is a curb-to-curb model being measured for its success in neighborhoods until January 21st.

Dallas Free Press is seeking an adept communicator who is highly organized to build strong relationships with potential major donors, funders and corporate sponsors.

Art comes in many forms and the ‘Arts of Oppression’ exhibit conveys that art is not limited to paintings or drawings, but extends to things like music, dancing and many other things which can be accessed if incarcerated individuals have access to resources.

Historians and journalists have documented — and today’s staffers recognize — the State Fair of Texas’ racist history. In the early 1900s the fair hosted one “Colored People Day” per year. It was discontinued in 1910.  On a Wednesday in fall 1923, Ku Klux Klan Day drew some 160,000 Klansmen to the fairgrounds for the initiation of the “largest class in the history of Klandom,” according to the flier, which included an application for membership on the back.  Negro Achievement Day launched in 1936. Each year on Oct. 14, Black fairgoers were admitted inside the gates. 

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.

It’s a tragic irony that the largest agriculture promoter in the state, the State Fair of Texas, is surrounded by a food desert, the neighborhood of South Dallas.

John Spriggins, manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center, launched the Juanita J. Craft House Artist in Residency to provide artists with studio space to create work that “capture[s] the immediacy of the moment where historical neighborhoods are rapidly changing due to socio-economic shifts."

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.

The for-profit company connects nonprofits with unemployed individuals who can earn hourly wages by doing community benefit work.

A new neighborhood grocery store in South Dallas is part of Cornerstone Baptist Church's overall vision for a healthy community.

Aunt Bette's food pantry at St. Philip's in South Dallas is set up like a grocery store to provide choices to hungry neighbors. This can create the kind of positive psychological environment conducive to healthy consumer habits, experts say.

Bridge Builders, a nonprofit in the Bonton neighborhood of South […]

In an effort to address food insecurity in the community, Cornerstone Baptist Church is opening Southpoint Community Market, a neighborhood grocery store that will sell fresh and affordable food.

Now that anyone who wants a vaccine can get one, the challenge is overcoming barriers such as internet access needed to register for the vaccine and transportation needed to get to appointments, plus the even more daunting barrier of trust.

Bobbie Blair, lifetime early education South Dallas teacher is honored with a drive-by parad as she retires from 51 years of teaching at ChildCareGroup.

Paul L. Dunbar and H.S. Thompson schools in South Dallas received grants to support innovation in areas like leadership, technology, STEM.

A couple doors down from the corner of Driskell and Wendelkin streets in South Dallas is what used to be a beautiful historic landmark, the Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Museum, now completely damaged from two intentionally set fires.

Dallas Free Press has compiled a list of resources for South Dallas residents in the aftermath of the winter storm.

For many families in South Dallas, COVID has forced them to choose between sending their kids to school and facing financial and health risks, or keeping them home and dealing with isolation and learning loss.

Dallas ISD high school, middle school, and elementary students have missed days of school. Authorities presented a plan to address this.

“I’ve never seen the marquee light up before,” noted Elizabeth […]

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.

“The more things that we bring in that keep our residents in our community spending their money here, the more we create that ecosystem of a sustainable economy that is going to give back to this community, instead of all of our dollars being spent elsewhere,” says Councilman Adam Bazaldua.

Dallas Free Press recently asked questions about the South Dallas Fair Park PID to try to understand how these tax dollars are benefitting the neighborhood, and how COVID might be impacting the work.

A community survey showed that 45 percent of the people in the South Dallas zip codes of 75210 and 75215 don't have cars. Community leaders want to bring DART's GoLink service to the neighborhood.

For Reynolds, a South Dallas native who grew up in the South Blvd/Park Row neighborhood, The Help Show has been a spiritual journey that has allowed her to process her grief.