Robert Rooks has been appointed the first National Criminal Justice Director for the NAACP in Baltimore, MD.

Rashaan Deshay has joined the Institute team, working primarily on issues related to prisoner reentry and criminal justice evaluation.

The South Dallas Research Center is nearing completion. Expect a grand opening this fall.

The first wave of household surveys, more than 2700 of them, have been completed. Analysis and snapshots are forthcoming.

Work continues with the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Partnership, Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, and Community Indicators Consortium.

As the fall grants cycle approaches, the Institute will be seeking a variety of national support for our work. Some of you may receive a request from us for a letter of support for those applications. If you're interested but don't receive a request, please contact us directly. We thank you in advance for your support of the work we do.

 

 

Our inaugural dfwIDEA Youth Ambassador program finished this summer with a great presentation on youth issues at the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science. The youth, all high school students, worked over the summer to test dfwIDEA and use it to inform their research on issues they find important. Our inaugural class presented research on teen dating violence, the pressures of sex, parent relationships, and the gap between Dallas's northern and southern communities. Some presented their findings in traditional ways, with high quality Power Point presentations, while others explored their messages through acting and dramatizations. One group prepared a poster board to present the stark contrasts they perceived between northern and southern Dallas communities. If you're interested in participating in next year's Youth Ambassador program, please let us know!

 

On a related note, the Social Justice Living Learning Community (LLC) launched this fall. Designed as an immersion experience for freshmen, the first seven members began the year in style by leading 154 of their peers on the first of many projects working with neighbors in the Jubilee neighborhood of Dallas. As the first LLC to be sponsored by an institute and not an academic program, the SJLLC is open to freshmen of all majors: "Your major is a social justice major" is their motto. The students live together in the same area of the new residence hall, take at least one class together each semester, and participate in social policy related events throughout the week.

 

Your generous support of the Institute enables Generation Next projects like the Living Learning Community and the dfwIDEA Youth Ambassadors to touch the lives of our region's next leaders. The kids say "Thanks!"

 

We'll still be working with content partners to ensure that our events are as robust as you've come to expect. Already we've got events in the works for October through June, with some months seeing multiple events. The list on the right will show you what's lined up for when.

The title sponsorship slot for the dialogue series is still open, so if you're interested in making sure this important work continues in Dallas, please contact us! 

 

Robert's national reputation for dedication to issues of social justice brought him to the top of the list when the NAACP chose to create the National Criminal Justice Director position, and his selection to this important post speaks volumes about the dedication and character of so many in North Texas who focus on the needs of our neighbors. We wish Robert the best of luck! 

Nearing the end of our initial pilot phase, it became apparent that our server hardware was quite overwhelmed. We're pleased to report that a new server has been purchased and installed, and we're almost done migrating all of our site (actually, everything except the mapping portion of dfwIDEA has been moved), so we're just a few weeks away from going live again. In fact, the photo on the left is our server's new home at Colo4Dallas (no, we don't have ALL that space). In the meantime, we've incorporated much of your feedback from the initial beta test, and have a host of new features to introduce on the data and mapping side, along with new and useful data sources to answer your queries. Look for an announcement soon!