6 highlights from 2023: A year of growth and community impact
Newsletter
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We are full of gratitude for all of the amazing things that came out of 2023.
Here are six highlights that give a taste of our work this past year and a preview of more to come:
A renewed commitment to racial equity
We began the year with a new policy that laid the foundation for our approach and our work. Read this Democracy Fund interview with founder Keri Mitchell about the process and the impact.
The launch of Dallas Documenters
This new program is crucial to Dallas’ civic framework and will transform our city. Read this D Magazine piece about the program, calling it “a major win for transparency.”
An expansion to Lincoln High School
This fall new principal Lance Williams invited us to the Legendary Lincoln High School, making it the third school where we teach students about communication and critical thinking. Read this newsletter about our high school programming.
More partnerships with local media
We continued collaborating with other newsrooms, believing we can do more good for Dallas together. Read one of our top stories of 2023, produced with the Dallas Media Collaborative.
Sharing good news and solutions
We love telling South Dallas’ and West Dallas’ untold stories about incredible people who use community expertise to tackle neighborhood problems. Read our most-read story of the year.
An expanding and ‘resilient’ team
We added several new team members and community partners this year, as evidenced in the group photo at the top. Amid the growth, the Local Independent Online News Publishers awarded us for “operational resilience.” Read about why.
None of this would be possible without you — our amazing neighbors, readers, partners and supporters. Thank you for all you’ve given us in 2023. This is the last time this year I’ll ask you to support our work.
Happy new year to you and yours, Neighbor!
In gratitude,
Dallas Free Press founder + executive director
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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
