Dallas Free Press launches pop-up newsroom at MLK food park

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Come visit Dallas Free Press’ pop-up newsroom at the pop-up MLK Food Park!

We launched right before the pandemic, so we’ve never had an actual newsroom to listen to neighbors’ stories. We’re grateful to Better Block for welcoming us at their event to do just that! They designed the kiosk pictured above, featuring Dallas Free Press intern Vivian Berreondo, ready to greet neighbors.

The project creates a community gathering space in South Dallas and also gives community-based businesses “a physical location without the cost of a food truck or brick-and-mortar restaurant.” Organizers hope to create a pathway to permanence, as you can read in our recent piece on the food park.

To encourage South Dallas neighbors to try it out, we worked with Fair Park business White Dog Engraving to create nifty wooden nickels (pictured above). The “nickels” are worth $5 at any food vendor booth, and we’re giving them to neighbors when they fill out our news survey and sign up for our text message service. (P.S. It’s not too late for you to complete a survey!)

Our pop-up newsroom at 1611 MLK Blvd. is open 6-8 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays, this weekend through May 2. Please stop by and say hi, or sign up to volunteer!

“If we can’t get timely responses to open-records requests, we can’t get people actual answers. It just creates another barrier to the information people need to literally survive.”

Dallas Free Press executive editor Keri Mitchell was featured in an Associated Press story during national Sunshine Week, highlighting challenges during the pandemic in obtaining records from the City of Dallas and Dallas Independent School District.

We’re thankful to the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the SMU Dedman School of Law First Amendment Clinic for their guidance during that process and for their ongoing support of government transparency here in Dallas and Texas.

Dallas Free Press executive director Keri Mitchell participated in a recent Hunt Institute “Impact Nights” conversation with several local journalists on “How civic journalism can restore trust and create a more inclusive economy.”

Keri noted during the event: “The need to collaborate is more around the city’s most complex civic issues — the ones we have been talking about for 20, 30 years and haven’t seen the needle move much. The Solutions Journalism Network describes it as 10 or 20 flashlights instead of one. A group of journalists focused in one direction and working in tandem can do exponentially more than one publication.”

You can read more about the conversation and watch the video. Plus, stay tuned in coming weeks for a very exciting announcement about a local Dallas media collaborative that will focus on civic journalism!