Introducing the Dallas Free Press
It was at Mama’s Daughters’ Diner, an unofficial political hub, where I first met with West Dallas neighbors.
They reached out to me after reading my investigative piece about how suburban students cheat their way into Dallas’ renowned arts magnet high school.
It’s a short drive from West Dallas to the school in the downtown Arts District with its ample resources and opportunities, but few children from the predominantly Latinx and Black neighborhood ever make that trip. It’s not a secret that white families shun Dallas’ public schools on the whole yet manage to infiltrate the city’s most sought-after campuses, but the sordid underbelly is rarely exposed.
“This is a racial equity story,” West Dallas leaders emphasized over coffee and eggs, “and we need this kind of journalism in our community.”
That was the lightbulb moment for me.
I’d spent my entire career as a community and civic journalist, cutting my teeth in the refinery-laden exurbs of Houston and earning my stripes at the Advocate, Dallas’ neighborhood-centric magazine.
In the last decade, as resources for local news dried up, I’d grown increasingly frustrated that the business necessity of clicks and likes had hijacked the public service of putting civic information in the hands of the people. I’d begun studying nonprofit news models all over the country in hopes of reinvigorating Advocate’s dormant charitable arm.
I sat at the diner, listening to people whose families and neighbors had been worn down by decades of disinvestment on the part of the powers that be — including, in some cases, the media — and I immediately understood what I should have known already.
If we truly want to find solutions to the systemic inequities that plague our city, we have to amplify the voices of our neighbors whom we have neglected.
In January 2020, the Dallas Free Press was born. Our purpose is to focus community journalism efforts in Dallas news deserts, starting with West Dallas and South Dallas, and to build a local journalism collaborative to tackle complex civic issues.
No one in Dallas needs one more thing to consume or keep track of. Our editorial strategy is to fill gaps where they exist, and to complement rather than compete with other local media.
Our first media partner is the Dallas Weekly, a legacy Black newspaper with history reaching back to the Civil Rights era. Our South Dallas stories co-publish in the Weekly’s print and digital editions, giving us a larger audience and an opportunity to build trust with readers.
Earlier this week, our pilot collaborative project with KERA aired on the radioand published on the Dallas Free Press site. It was the first in a series on the digital divide in Dallas, funded by the national Solutions Journalism Network, that will explore the potential for internet access to shift from a luxury to a utility.
To do this important work, your support is crucial. Here’s how you can help us:
• Do you have friends who live or work in South Dallas or West Dallas? Please share this newsletter with them and invite them to interact with Dallas Free Press via text, social media or email.
• Do you know of potential partners or funders who might be passionate about this work? Please suggest or connect them to me.
• Do you believe in this work and want to support us financially? You can donate to our North Texas Giving Day campaign now through Sept. 17, or donate directly toward our work anytime.
