In This Issue

DFCC and the Mayor's

March 2009
Southern Dallas Task Dear Dallas Faith Communities Friend,
Force
Welcome to the third edition of the Dallas Faith
Chasing The American Communities Coalition newsletter. We look forward to
Dream hearing from you as we seek to keep you informed and
connected to service opportunities in West Dallas. We are
Dia de la Familia also happy to have the opportunity to spotlight our
Brings West Dallas community partners and share their strengths and needs.
Together

DFCC

The Dallas Faith

Communities Coalition
seeks to organize the
ministries of Dallas'
faith communities into
effective partnerships
working within the
city to make a
positive impact upon DFCC and the Mayor's
the lives of families
and neighborhoods. Southern Dallas Task Force
The work of DFCC is organized into six focus areas:
-Housing
-Education
Get Involved: -Economic Development
-Public Health
Volunteer -Public Safety
-Spiritual Development
Opportunities
 Last year DFCC focused its efforts on housing and this year, we are
EGGStravaganza focused on education (more about that exciting project in a later
at Mercy Street edition!).
April 4th 12:30- All our work is guided by a continually evolving master plan that
2:30 P.M. @ Mercy incorporates the resources of the people and programs of West
Street. Volunteers Dallas while responding to their needs. Over the past several
are needed for set months, DFCC has been able to incorporate the good work already
up from 10:30A.M.- accomplished by its master plan team into the larger efforts of the
12:00P.M. West Dallas Sub-Committee to the Mayor's Southern Dallas Task
Force.

That Task Force is now in the final stages of developing a set of

Dia de la recommendations to City Council to be adopted and implemented
Familia & the over the next 12-18 months. DFCC is pleased to play a
West Side developmental role on the committee and we look forward to sharing
Family Fun Run our plans with the City Council and even more, we anticipate with joy
their implementation.

April 25th from The Mayor's Southern Dallas Task Force was commissioned by Mayor
6:30 A.M. - 1:30 Tom Leppert and Councilmember Tennell Atkins in 2008. The goal of
P.M. at the Anita the task force is to identify, qualify, prioritize and recommend to the
Martinez Mayor, City Council and the City Manager a range of implementable
Recreation Center. deliverables that support the achievement of redeveloping and
Volunteers are repositioning Southern Dallas (identified as all the area south of the
needed to help Trinity River, including West Dallas) in the near term (2 years), mid
with setup, take term, (2 - 5 years) and long term (> than 5 years).
down, and to
monitor activities The expected results are:
for the fun run and
games. - Investment for Economic Development & Growth
- Academic Excellence / Increase in Higher Education
- Mixed Income Housing
- Quality Recreation, Arts & Culture
West Dallas - Sustainable Communities
Weed & Seed
Spring Clean Additionally, three teams focus on pervasive issues that impact all of
Volunteers are Southern Dallas:
needed on
Saturday, April 1. Ongoing key economic development priorities
25th from 8:30A.M 2. Small business
-12:00P.M. for the 3. Funding/financing
West Dallas Clean
up . Registration is In West Dallas, the team is led by Butch McGregor of West Dallas
at 8:30A.M. Investments and John Cappello, who led the West Dallas Chamber of
Commerce for many years. More than 30 West Dallas businesses,
not-for-profit organizations, individuals and outside stakeholders
Young Parent meet twice a month to plan for much needed improvements. In the
Institute future we will be sharing more details of the plan, but for now we
We are looking for wanted you to know the effort is underway. We extend an open
mentors for young invitation to any faith group that would like to join with us. The
mothers project is moving swiftly and it is very rewarding to see the pay off of
and fathers that our efforts beginning to take form.
attend Pinkston
High School.

Mentoring with
Mercy Sreet
Great mentors are
needed to help out
at Mercy Street. A
one year
commitment is
required to be a
mentor.

There are also

opportunities to
take part in weekly Chasing the American Dream
club meetings.
Mercy Street needs March 26, 2008 at 7:00pm @ Temple Emanu-El
help with planning,
prep, teaching, and Temple Emanu-El and DFCC invite you to be our guest at an
gospel Affordable Housing Forum on Thursday, March 26, at 7:00 PM. The
presentations. Forum is made possible by the Jill Stone Social Action Fund.

Mercy Street also The Forum will feature noted architect Brent Brown, Dallas' City
plans monthly Manager Mary Suhm and Regina Nippert, Director of DFCC in an
outings for their evening designed to acquaint members of Temple Emanu-El and
children. They other invited guests about the urgent situation that faces people in
could use help with need of affordable housing in our city. It will have three primary
serving food, components, in addition to a brief address by Rabbi Knight and
running games, Rabbi Stern regarding the call to justice that the Jewish people are
and setup and tear given. We will discuss the need and the role of the faith
down after each community, innovative solutions in Dallas and elsewhere, and what
monthly event. the City of Dallas has committed to helping meet the need in a
public-private partnership. The evening will close with an
opportunity for attendees to sign up to learn more or to participate
in an exploratory conversation led by DFCC and Temple Emanu-El
regarding next steps and moving to action.

In the midst of all the attention being paid to the economic

downturn and the collapse of individual savings plans, Dallas still
suffers from a shocking and little recognized housing crisis that has
only been made worse by the shrinking job market and reductions in
Call Jenny Banda @ housing lending. Did you know that in order to afford a market rate
214.269.3340 for apartment, three minimum wage workers must live together? Did
details on any of you know that in order to purchase a home a family must earn six
these opportunites times the minimum wage?
In response, the Affordable Housing Committee and the Affordable
Housing Task Force of Temple Emanu-El have spent the past several
months gathering members of the congregation and other faith
communities, developers, investors, public officials and others
committed to social justice issues in order to acquaint them with the
dire need for affordable housing. During the evening together, the
Forum will challenge thinkers and doers, Temple members and the
larger Dallas community, architects, developers, land planners and
elected leaders-to come up with a response that will be an example
worthy of replication throughout the country.

2nd Annual Dia de la Familia Brings

West Dallas Together

DALLAS (Mar.15, 2009) - Dia de la

Familia began last year with a small
community fun run, titled the West
Side Family Fun Run. Families and
individuals registered for this free
event at our participating
organization's locations including Trinity River Mission, The Anita N.
Martinez Recreation Center, and Wesley Rankin Community Center.
This year the planning committee has teamed up with the West
Dallas Weed and Seed Spring Clean to spur involvement in both
events and all the festivities that surround the area on the day of
April 25, 2009.

Racers and fun runners will be given bags and gloves so that
they may help with the clean up cause while still taking part in an
event that is designed to encourage families to set aside time for
each other. After the race we will begin festivities at Hattie R.
Moore Park, outside of Anita Martinez Recreation Center. This will
be one of the first major events held at the park since its newly
designed pavilion area will be completed. There will be free bounce
houses, face painters, games, a petting zoo, food, and other
entertainment for kids and the whole family. Plus, there will be
information booths available to help community members utilize
programs and resources in the area.

The Dia de la Familia event is in its second year, and with

more groups getting involved than in its inaugural, we hope to
provide even more information and entertainment than before.
Agencies involved in this year's event planning include Trinity River
Mission, The City of Dallas, Wesley-Rankin Community Center,
Vecinos Unidos, Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, West Dallas Weed
and Seed, andthe Dallas Faith Community Coalition.
This free event will benefit the community by providing information
on the programs offered at the various agencies locations while also
giving residents in the community a chance to celebrate the basic
unit of a well rounded community, the family.
All of the agencies involved have the primary goal of uniting the
community through ownership of projects, programs, and events
like this throughout the year. We hope to accomplish this goal
through tasks, such as volunteerism, which might be spurred by
simple attendance of an event like Dia de la Familia. There are
already many active members of the community that volunteered at
the event last year and we know they will serve as an example to
others. If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer with
either the clean up effort or the community celebrations please
contact the Dallas Faith Communities Coalition.

From the Director's Desk

Suddenly, everyone is paying attention. In the same way that

nothing focuses your attention on your thumb like hitting it
with a hammer, nothing focuses a country's attention on the
need for change like feeling the very foundations of society
shift beneath our feet. Our banking system has been severely
compromised - by the end of 2008, we were frighteningly close
to complete financial collapse. Our housing market, that
economic engine that chugged along as reliably as a 20 year
old refrigerator, has ground to a virtual halt. Some of us,
certainly many of our brothers and sisters, have lost their jobs,
their savings, their sense of security and comfort. As people of
faith, how are we to respond?

First, we must examine our own hearts. What have I

contributed to the situation in which we all find ourselves?
Am I entering every day and every situation with love and
respect for those who are suffering or am I seeking to assure
myself that this won't happen to me by finding fault with the
actions of others? Watermark has been looking at the book of
Job this month and a recurring theme is how Job's friends
tended to ask him what he'd done wrong, rather than just
sitting with him as he suffered. The general conclusion is, Job
needed their company and their compassion, not their lame
explanations for what he might have done wrong.

After we have carefully searched our own hearts, we look to

our social units - our families, our neighborhoods, our
congregations. How did we let this situation come about and
how are we helping to heal the breach? Next Thursday,
Temple Emanu-El is hosting a forum to discuss affordable
housing. They have chosen to open it to the entire city,
because this is a conversation we all benefit from having
together and all our hands are needed to build solutions.

After we have looked at the small things that we can control

today, we can look to our nation and the things that we can
change over the long term. I am thrilled to see so many
conversations about values and making wise choices. I am
thrilled to see wretched excess being named for what it is. The
fact of the matter is that many, many people have been
suffering for decades with the same issues that everyone is now
facing, but we just called them "the poor" and gave of our own
excess to help them maintain some minimal standard of
decency while ignoring the systemic issues that keep the poor
among us in the first place. Suddenly, everyone is paying
attention. Suddenly, everyone knows how it feels and we all
agree it doesn't feel good. We don't want to feel like this and
we don't want our neighbors to suffer either.

So now that we are all paying attention, what do we do? We

set our own hearts right. We honestly assess what we really
want to accomplish in this life. We look at the tools we have at
our disposal, remembering that we are still the richest country
on earth, the richest in the history of humankind. And we get
to work. The message I want to hear from our leaders is this,
"Get to work". Shopping is not the cure, buying cars and
houses and vacations is not the fix. Working together to repair
the breach is the fix. It's the simplest economic formula there
is - find a customer and make something they need. It is the
most moral of decisions - see a brother or sister in need and
use what God has given you to meet their need. May we all
remember as we respond to this catharsis that we are God's
hands and feet on this blue planet and that we are not here to
enrich ourselves.

Blessings and peace,

Regina