Message from the Chairman
In the more than 11 years since FCE began to work in low-income neighborhoods in South Dallas, I have never felt a greater sense of promise and realizable prospects for the future. Despite the scale of the challenges remaining, I believe Dallas is in transition toward a more promising model of equality and opportunity for more of our fellow citizens. This model is based on increasing numbers of community- and faith-based leaders and organizations taking responsibility for local solutions. Their leadership, coupled with more responsive and effective public institutions, is producing newfound energy and hope that is sweeping through the Southern Sector.
Continuing to build on the base of community empowerment, FCE is involved in two critical initiatives going forward: public school transformation and comprehensive neighborhood revitalization. From our experience, we believe public school transformation is the most important agenda for our low-income fellow citizens and the future of Dallas. The goal of Dallas Achieves, a partnership among the Dallas Independent School District, FCE, the National Center for Educational Accountability, and Texas Instruments, is for every student to graduate college- and workforce-ready. We seek to have the top urban school system in America and win the Broad Prize by 2010. For student achievement to improve dramatically and for achievement gaps among racial and economic groups to narrow, school reform must be accompanied by expanded early-childhood education, constructive parental involvement, and effective community engagement.
We know low-income neighborhoods can be successfully revitalized when such efforts are led by community residents in appropriate partnerships with others. After the Dallas Housing Authority obtained a HOPE VI grant to reconstruct the Frazier Courts public housing project, Frazier residents came together to plan a renewed community. In partnership with FCE and the City of Dallas, they formed Frazier Revitalization Inc. to assist in land assembly, financing and planning. Historically, the Frazier neighborhood, located just east of Fair Park, compared unfavorably with New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. Because of the work under way today, residents enjoy the prospect of new homes and parks, jobs, retail services, and excellent schools in safe neighborhoods. This model should be replicable and scalable across other low-income, blighted neighborhoods in southern Dallas.
Today, I know for certain what I could only sense 11 years ago: The empowerment model works when coupled with systems change and public advocacy informed by research, data, and best practices. South Dallas holds the seeds of its own rebirth, and it is our privilege at FCE to help germinate those seeds, then stand back and marvel as they grow and flourish.
Sincerely,
J. McDonald "Don" Williams
Chairman of the Board of Directors