The Cottages at Hickory Crossing are nearing completion!

Learn more about The Cottages

The Cottages at Hickory Crossing, a permanent supportive housing project in South Dallas, is weeks away from completion. Once fully inhabited the complex will house and support 50 residents that have been identified as chronically homeless. Residents have begun to move into their 335 square foot homes and use The Cottages on-site services, including comprehensive case management, psychiatric care, mental health treatment and support, substance abuse treatment, life-skills training, and employment counseling.

 

Congo Street Initiative - Phase 2

Learn more about our work in Dallas

 

Congo Street: Phase 2 is a partnership between Jubilee Park Community Center Corporation (JPCCC) and [bc] to design homes on Congo Street. The work on Congo St. seeks to combat vacancy through the design and completion of six owner-occupied homes on currently vacant properties. The project combines an overall site strategy developed through a community-informed process with current residents and individual home designs driven by the choices of the new homeowners. The completed homes will address issues of environmental sustainability, with a target goal of LEED Silver certification for all six lots.

Currently, the new homes are being constructed. The first house of the second phase has already been completed, two more are under construction and expecting completion in 2017, and the last three are currently being designed with their prospective owners. 

PDII 2016 Project Selection

Learn more about the Public Design Impact Initiative!

Rebecca of the Hope Family Health Center and Carolina of ORANGE-MADE discuss schematic design ideas for HFHC's new facilities. The project is currently in the implementation phase and expected to be completed in the spring of 2017.

Rebecca of the Hope Family Health Center and Carolina of ORANGE-MADE discuss schematic design ideas for HFHC's new facilities. The project is currently in the implementation phase and expected to be completed in the spring of 2017.

In May 2016, as part of a collaborative effort to extend equity in design to rural, colonia areas, a Request For Proposals was released to invite Rio Grande Valley nonprofit organizations and groups to submit project proposals to be matched with pro bono design services. From this RFP, we received many excellent proposals, and in July, a jury of nonprofit, community and design leaders convened to review the proposals, recommending the following project to be selected for 2016:

The Hope Family Health Center

The Hope Family Health Center (HFHC) is a primary medical and behavioral health clinic with a mission to exclusively serve the uninsured in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). 

HFHC proposed a planning and infrastructure design project for a newly acquired 1,460 sq ft rectangle space attached to the current HFHC clinic facility in South McAllen. Due to the continued high rate of medically uninsured adults and children in the RGV and in order to meet its mission of serving the uninsured population, in the last two years, HFHC has sought and secured major grant funded projects to deliver increased quality and quantity of services. The services include medical appointments, mental health counseling, nutritional counseling, community health education classes, support groups, vision screenings, and information & referral services. All of these services have outgrown the physical space of the clinic. The additional 1,000 sq ft of space will greatly increase the number of services available on-site and on the same day knowing that patients have many challenges in arranging transportation to the clinic.

HFHC was in need of the extra space in order to house its growing programs and activities. However, the new open space requires infrastructure that could include walls to define rooms, moveable walls to keep space multi-use, interior design to maximize floor space, and use of green and sustainable materials. The board of directors and medical volunteers have many ideas and thoughts on how best to use the space; however, through PDII, HFHC seeks professional and innovate planning and design assistance to discover, design, plan and implement the optimal use of the space for use by patients, staff, volunteers, and partner organizations.

Optimal use of the new space would immediately increase the number of laughter yoga classes, nutrition classes, grief support groups, stress management groups, exercise classes, staff planning meetings, medical volunteer meetings, professional development workshops, community group meetings, partner organization workshops, and many other opportunities for individuals to gather in groups. Currently the only space available for these types of activities is the public lobby or a small meeting room that cannot hold more than 10 people comfortably. In addition to the group space, the additional space for desks or offices would give patients more opportunities to meet privately with a nutritional counselor, information and referral specialist or social worker on the same day as their medical appointment instead of having to come back on another day. HFHC expects that the new space will achieve increased quality and quantity of all the current and possibly new services for its patients.

Healing Hands Ministries

We are publishing a collection of reports and documents prepared by bcANALYTICS to help nonprofit and community-based organizations serve their clients and communities through data-driven research and analysis. Check out more bcANALYTICS reports here.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Four of the primary challenges that negatively impact the health of Americans are:
(1) The high cost of healthcare
(2) The high rate of uninsured
(3) The high rate of poverty
(4) Poor transportation access to care

By providing affordable healthcare to thousands of uninsured patients earning at or below 200% of the poverty level, Healing Hands Ministries effectively and compassionately remediates three of these challenges for people in the Lake Highlands and greater Dallas area.

Currently, however, Healing Hands Ministries is underserved by public transportation, and patients seeking to use their facilities must walk more than one-half mile from the nearest bus stops along inhospitable and fast-moving arterial roads. To more effectively serve a greater population in need, Healing Hands Ministries must be better connected to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system.

This report will argue for enhanced transportation access for Healing Hands Ministries by drawing attention to the heightened significance of their service provision due to the severe need for quality, affordable healthcare in Dallas; demonstrating the breadth of scope and quality of care Healing Hands provides patients; revealing the inadequacy of transportation connectivity surrounding the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Royal Lane; and recommending several paths forward for pursuing improved integration into the Dallas Area Rapid Transit transportation system.

Below is an excerpt from the Healing Hands report. Read the full report here!

THIS WORK IS SUPPORTED BY
As the largest community foundation in Texas and one of the largest in the nation,
Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) works with families, companies and nonprofits to strengthen our community through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. The foundation professionally manages more than 900 charitable funds and has awarded more than $1.3 billion in grants since its founding in 1953. Increasing financial stability of working families is one of the two key focus areas of CFT’s community impact funds. To support this area, CFT has launched the Data Driven Decision-Making (D3) Institute. The D3 Institute is designed to provide organizations that offer programs and services for low-income working families the power to accelerate their development of enduring solutions to the social and economic problems facing this population. www.cftexas.org/D3

Little Free Libraries Code Amendment Update

See more posts on Little Free Libraries!

On October 26, 2016 the Development Code Amendment regarding Little Free Libraries in the City of Dallas was heard by the Dallas City Council:

  • Item 60. A public hearing to receive comments regarding amendments to Chapter 51 and Chapter 51A of the Dallas Development Code, Section 51-4.217 and Section 51A-4.217, “Accessory Uses,” providing regulations for book exchange structures as accessory outside storage and an ordinance granting the amendments.

The adopted motion was to “treat landscaping, ornamental structures (front yard accessories) and lawn furniture by right,” meaning no new code restrictions would be placed on “book exchange structures” or Little Free Libraries.

  • Voting Yes: [14] Rawlings, Alonzo, Wilson, Griggs, Medrano, Thomas, Callahan, Young, Clayton, McGough, Kleinman, Greyson, Gates, Kingston
  • Voting No: [1] Arnold  

While the City of Dallas will not restrict the size or location of Little Free Libraries on private property, if you are considering placing a LFL on your private property, we recommend contacting you HOA (if applicable) for any restrictions that may affect your library structure.

Our thanks goes to everyone who contacted their councilperson and expressed their opinion of the Development Code Amendment!

See lfldallas.org and the links below for more resources for Little Free Libraries!

DC Cultural Plan

See more posts about our work in DC!

[bc] is leading the community engagement strategy for the District of Columbia's first Cultural Plan. In collaboration with the DC Office of Planning (DCOP), DC Commission on Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME) and HR&A Advisors, [bc] hosted four "Community Conversations" across the District to better understand the concerns of residents and challenges they face in reference to the arts, culture and humanities. These conversations worked to evoke and develop potential strategies and solutions from participants. Over the coming months, HR&A Advisors and [bc] will be undergoing continued engagement and developing draft strategies for the plan.

YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas

We are publishing a collection of reports and documents prepared by bcANALYTICS to help nonprofit and community-based organizations serve their clients and communities through data-driven research and analysis. Check out more bcANALYTICS reports here.

INTRODUCTION

The YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas (YW) is moving from operating as a virtual organization with dispersed services to opening the YW Women’s Center Ebby’s Place located at 2603 Inwood Road in Dallas, increasing its public presence and ability to offer wrap-around services. As YW prepares for this shift, the organization is considering how to sustain its current clients, how existing and new clients access the Center, and opportunities for outreach and programming to neighborhoods and organizations nearby.

This study provides contextual data on low-income women and families and the difficulty of making ends meet, local data on YW’s target clientele, visualization of YW’s current service delivery, and information on the neighborhoods, resources, and transit access near the new YW Women’s Center. The goal of this report is to aid YW in informed decision-making on their outreach and service delivery as they work to guide women toward self sufficiency.

Below is an excerpt from the YWCA report. Read the full report here!

THIS WORK IS SUPPORTED BY
As the largest community foundation in Texas and one of the largest in the nation, Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) works with families, companies and nonprofits to strengthen our community through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. The foundation professionally manages more than 900 charitable funds and has awarded more than $1.3 billion in grants since its founding in 1953. Increasing financial stability of working families is one of the two key focus areas of CFT’s community impact funds. To support this area, CFT has launched the Data Driven Decision-Making (D3) Institute. The D3 Institute is designed to provide organizations that offer programs and services for low-income working families the power to accelerate their development of enduring solutions to the social and economic problems facing this population. www.cftexas.org/D3

Literacy Instruction for Texas

We are publishing a collection of reports and documents prepared by bcANALYTICS to help nonprofit and community-based organizations serve their clients and communities through data-driven research and analysis. Check out more bcANALYTICS reports here.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Through research and analysis, [bc] has mapped and profiled Literacy Instruction for Texas’ (LIFT) current service delivery and identified key demographic factors commonly associated with low literacy populations. This report offers recommendations to guide LIFT’s potential expansion in Dallas County. 

Currently, LIFT, has 14 outreach locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth area that serve approximately 3,313 individuals, ages 18 to 90, through its various programs. LIFT has served the region for over 50 years.

While much research has been done on childhood literacy, low literacy among adults is largely unstudied. Indicators commonly associated with low literacy rates among adults include poverty, English proficiency, race, ethnicity, immigration, and unemployment. In this study, estimate data from the American Community Survey were used to identify geographies with a prevalence of adult literacy indicators and risk factors. In Dallas County, these include neighborhoods in South Oak Cliff, near Fair Park, and Pleasant Grove. It is recommended that explorations for service expansion start in these neighborhoods. 

Social service and ESL adult education providers in and near identified neighborhoods are located and listed. Examples of these include primary and secondary schools with higher prevalence of ESL students, workforce centers, churches, and libraries. It is also recommended that literacy outreach efforts begin at community centers already integrated and engaged within the community. Partnerships and alignment with other organizations should maximize impact in areas with the highest need. 

Below is an excerpt from the LIFT report. Read the full report here!

THIS WORK IS SUPPORTED BY
As the largest community foundation in Texas and one of the largest in the nation,
Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) works with families, companies and nonprofits to strengthen our community through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. The foundation professionally manages more than 900 charitable funds and has awarded more than $1.3 billion in grants since its founding in 1953. Increasing financial stability of working families is one of the two key focus areas of CFT’s community impact funds. To support this area, CFT has launched the Data Driven Decision-Making (D3) Institute. The D3 Institute is designed to provide organizations that offer programs and services for low-income working families the power to accelerate their development of enduring solutions to the social and economic problems facing this population. www.cftexas.org/D3

MiCASiTA

See more posts about sustainABLEhouse our work in the Rio Grande Valley

MiCASiTA offers an alternative approach to providing housing to some of the hardest to reach and most  challenged communities across the country.  The Rio Grande Valley, like many other communities in Texas and nationally, suffers from extreme poverty and lack of quality, affordable housing.  With limited financing and design options, many housing and community development organizations are forced to either turn away or maintain long waiting lists for would-be homeowners who do not qualify for traditional affordable housing delivery models. MiCASiTA, a collaboration between the Community Development Corporation of Brownsville (CDCB), the Rio Grande Valley MultiBank (RGVMB), The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC), and buildingcommunityWORKSHOP [bc] seeks to change that by offering innovative financing, and design options, tailored to grow with the homeowners needs.  

MiCASiTA offers personalized design options that empower individuals though choice while also improving sustainability and overall quality of housing. "Starter homes" are built focusing specifically on the client's needs;  they can choose to initially build their home with a kitchen, living room, and one bedroom while keeping in mind that in the future they will have the option to make additions to their home. Homeowners who qualify for smaller loan amounts begin with a 600 square foot "starter home". The “starter home” is specifically designed to expand as the family's savings and financial stability grow.  This approach builds on the the success of the CDCB/ [bc] RAPIDO project which created a temporary to permanent disaster recovery housing solution that starts with a small core that can be put in place immediately after a natural disaster and can grow as government assistance is available for the area.

CDCB will take clients and their families through an educational program that will prepare them to make important financial decisions with a new mortgage. In addition, RGVMB will conduct one-on-one financial and credit score counseling to ensure that the client is ready to take on the initial loan for their new home. The initial loan will cover the cost of the "starter home" and payments on this home will begin at this time. Once the client is ready, additional loans will be given in order to make additions to the home. The client's loan payments will grow accordingly with the addition of each new phase of construction. This financial program is structured and designed specifically with the client's success in mind, focusing on allowing for low interest rates, low monthly payments, longer loan terms, and deferred loan amounts. 

 

Abriendo Las Puertas

See more posts on AVAI and our work in the RGV.  

On December 3rd,  Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator will celebrate the work of Artist in Residence Celeste De Luna, Rigoberto Gonzalez and Nancy Guevara and the future of arts, culture and civic engagement in Historic Downtown Brownsville.

De Luna’s large scale wood-cut prints about resistance and rebellion in the valley will be displayed throughout the Historic Market Square.  Her works include portraits of the Buffalo soldiers, Americo Paredes and visualizations of corridos written by Brownsville residents. Guevara will display two large fabric murals made of ropa usada that portray female grassroots activists from the Valley.  Gonzalez will reveal a 14 foot long movable mural to be displayed in the street, that addresses challenges experienced by the homeless in Brownsville.   

Additional programing will include live music performances by Caldo Frío, photographs from the Taquerías of Southmost exhibit, , produced by Texas Folklike and the Brownsville Historical Association and the dance, #soyBrownsville, choreographed by Caty Wantland. Screen printing workshops will be held by Nancy Guevara and Celeste de Luna throughout the event.  All programing is free and open to the public.  

Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator is an art and public interest design initiative in Market Square  in Historic Downtown Brownsville. Artists collaborate with community members to create art that explores the cultural, social, political and economic life in this region. The project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Brownsville and BCIC and produced by buildingcommunityWORKSHOP.

For more information on AVAI or Abriendo Las Puertas follow up on Facebook!

Celebrating Ivy City Is...

Learn more about Crossing the Street: Ivy City and our work in DC.

Photos by Vinnie Accardi (top left), Lotanna Obodozie (top center-right) and Nando Alvarez (center and bottom rows). 

On Sunday, November 6th, we celebrated the opening of “Ivy City Is…”, a collaborative, resident and artist-led creative project that culminated in the creation of a three-dimensional, 5’ by 20’ screenprinted, plywood installation, spelling out “IVY CITY”. This project is intended to celebrate the neighborhood’s rich heritage and foster a dialogue about Ivy City’s identity in the face of rapid development and demographic change. Over 200 Ivy City residents, creatives, and community stakeholders joined us at this event with on-site screen printing, free t-shirts, food, and performances by local artists at Lewis W. Crowe Park.

Each letter was crafted using a collage of historic photos, maps, and portraits of residents who customized individual yard signs declaring what Ivy City means to them. A diverse community of local artists collaborated with area youth to host a series of free screen printing workshops, where residents learned how to screen print and helped create the seven large letters that spelled out “IVY CITY”. Prior to this celebration, these individual letters were on display in key locations throughout the neighborhood, including Bethesda Baptist Church, Louis Carryout, Hecht Warehouse, and Trinity Baptist Church.

This “place-keeping” installation serves as a landmark to the historic neighborhood and invites residents of all backgrounds to celebrate Ivy City and collectively envision its future. This project is a collaboration between Empower DC, The Sanctuaries, Open Studio DC, LISC, [bc], and the DC Office of Planning (DCOP). This project is supported by DCOP’s grant from the Kresge Foundation, “Crossing the Street: Building DC’s Inclusive Future through Creative Placemaking”.

Little Free Libraries: Dallas Development Code Amendment

The proposed Dallas Development Code amendment that will affect current and future Little Free Libraries (LFL) in our community. Free outdoor little free libraries encourage vibrant, connected public spaces and help to increase access to books throughout our community. 

Here are few of the highlights on how the code amendments and how it affect current and future LFLs:

  • Proposed amendments are rigid on location and size.  Size and location requirements in the front yard limits LFL to small boxes located in very specific locations that leave no scope for creativity.
  • Under the proposed amendments, there is no possibility for the existing LFLs to be grandfathered in as the proposed requirements will be applied retroactively.
  • A survey of existing LFL in Dallas found that more than half of the LFL would become illegal if the new amendments are passed as presented. The vast majority of those are located in front of single family homes, designed and built by families.
  • It also means that out of 19 LFLs available to be purchased online on LFL National site, only 3, would be allowed under the proposed amendments.
  • No other big cities of Texas - including Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso - have any code regulations for LFLs. Other cities around Dallas - Frisco, Plano, Fort Worth, Richardson and Irving - do not have any code regulations for LFLs. Only one suburban city, Pearland has rules that disallow LFLs.

Dallas City Council will be considering the proposed amendments at the next council meeting on October 26th, 2016 at 9 am, in City Hall

CLICK HERE for a brief description of the LFL program in Dallas, research on how the
proposal affect LFLs, and a copy of the proposed amendment.

We encourage you to reach out to your council member to express your opinion on the proposed amendments and attend the council meeting on October 26th to make your voice heard during the public hearing.  

If you have any questions about the attached document, please feel free to contact us at lfldallas@gmail.com or inform@bcworkshop.org.

Press written about the code amendments include: 

Announcing RAPIDORECOVERY.org

Learn more about RAPIDO and visit RAPIDORECOVERY.org!

buildingcommunityWORKSHOP ([bc]) is pleased to announce the launch of RAPDIORECOVERY.org in conjunction with our presentation of RAPIDO on Next City's World Stage at UN Habitat III in Quito. RAPIDO is a holistic approach to housing recovery that enables communities to recover for disasters within months instead of years. Through understanding and redesigning the entire U.S. disaster recovery housing process, alongside people who are affected the most, RAPIDO fosters resilience within Texas, empowers local communities, and abates the social and economic impacts of disaster.

RAPIDORECOVERY.org makes it easy to learn more about the RAPIDO model, view work from the RAPIDO Rapid Disaster Recovery Housing Pilot Program, and keep up to date with RAPIDO advocacy efforts in Texas.

Smart Growth for Dallas Community Engagement Kick-off

Learn more about Smart Growth for Dallas.

Join us on Thursday, November 10th, at Dallas Heritage Village to kick off the community engagement events for Phase II of Smart Growth for Dallas, a new initiative to help Dallas protect its most important natural places and create a city of great public spaces. Sign-in begins at 5:30pm, presentation and activities will be 6:00-7:30pm.

During this event we will present work done to date, provide an opportunity to ask questions about the project and data gathered, provide details on the 7 community engagement meetings that will be held over the next two months, and record stories about Dallasites’ favorite parks. We hope you’ll join us for this exciting event on November 10th.

RSVP for the event here

For more information about the project, read our web-post about Smart Growth for Dallas.

Smart Growth for Dallas is a partnership with The Trust for Public Land, buildingcommunityWORKSHOP, The Dallas Park and Recreation Department, and The Texas Trees Foundation. Combining Geographic Information System computer modeling and on-the-ground engagement with residents and park users, Smart Growth for Dallas will create an interactive “decision support tool” to help Dallas prioritize its investments in parks based on their economic, social, and ecological benefits. Results of the program will be available to city staff, non-profit partners and the public through an interactive website.

Ivy City Artist Selection

See more posts about Crossing the Street and our other work in Washington, DC

The Sanctuaries artists and Empower DC youth community organizers screen print yard signs for residents. Photos (above and below) by Rev. Erik Martinez Resley of The Sanctuaries.

The Sanctuaries artists and Empower DC youth community organizers screen print yard signs for residents. Photos (above and below) by Rev. Erik Martinez Resley of The Sanctuaries.

[bc] with LISC is excited to share the proposal selected for the Crossing the Street: Ivy City project. Crossing the Street: Ivy City is a temporary creative placemaking initiative in northeast Washington, DC. The collaborative team of EmpowerDC , The SanctuariesOpen Studio DC and resident Taylor Johnson have already been hard at work engaging residents in conversations about Ivy City's neighborhood identity and the community's desire for recreational amenities. Their project invites new and old Ivy City residents to customize a sign that expresses what "Ivy City Is" to them as well as to participate in a screenprinting and poetry workshop. The photos of residents with their signs, the poetry developed, and other curated images will be used to develop a large, screen printed installation. This installation will be unveiled at a community event on Saturday, October 29th. Be sure to stay connected with us on Facebook for future updates and opportunities to participate!