The Community Driven Growth initiative is funded by the JPMorgan Chase Partnerships for Raising Opportunity in Neighborhoods (PRO Neighborhoods) — a $125 million, five-year initiative to provide communities with the capital and tools they need to support locally driven solutions and address key drivers of inequality across the country. The program uses an equitable development approach to economic growth by helping cities implement comprehensive strategies that address barriers to economic mobility. The project partners, responsible for project administration and the final report, are The Real Estate Council Community Fund (TREC Community Fund), C-Suite Consulting, buildingcommunityWORKSHOP ([bc]), The Institute for Urban Policy Research at The University of Texas at Dallas (IUPR), and Loveland Technologies.
Community Driven Growth
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Equitable development as both an idea and a practice is evolving. Recentering development and investment so they benefit residents of disinvested communities is at the core of delivering equitable development. Our knowledge of tools, strategies, and tactics continues to grow as communities, stakeholders, practitioners, and community-based organizations across the country seek to undo decades of disinvestment and discriminatory policies and practices without causing widespread displacement. Community Driven Growth: A Roadmap for Dallas’ Equitable Development represents a year-long effort for three Dallas communities - The Bottom, Forest District, and West Dallas-Census Tract 205. It recognizes the distinct histories of each geography and turning points which contributed to the challenges they face today. Despite their differences, common challenges quickly emerged across the three geographies. This plan pulls from the current knowledge of equitable development tools and seeks to pair them with the challenges identified by residents and stakeholders in each community.
Common Challenges:
• Need for Housing Rehabilitation
• Need to better manage new development to ensure residents are not displaced, and that housing in the community continues to be financially accessible to very low-, low-, and moderate-income households.
Jobs & Workforce Development
• Jobs & Workforce Development
• Need to support individuals who are reentering the workforce or considered hard-to-hire
• Need for jobs to pay a living wage
• Need to better connect residents to currently available resources
Community Ownership and Leadership
• Need for increased community participation
• Need for better engagement/communication with residents
• Need for resident education and leadership development
Community Specific Recommendations:
• The Bottom
• Establish affordability based on the income of current Bottom residents
• Forest District
• Attract small businesses
• Form a super neighborhood organization
• West Dallas-Census Tract 205
• Relocate Industrial Uses
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