Center Coordinator

A Word From Our Community Center Coordinator

Building Community

St. Philip’s School and Community Center continues to be a beacon of light to the surrounding community. Part of our mission is to provide compatible community services to the families we serve and we are able to provide those services through over sixty collaborative partnerships. One of my focuses this past year has been to strengthen our partnerships with other agencies in South Dallas in an effort to reduce duplication of services and to streamline our current programing to families.

We’ve successfully established several new dynamic community partnerships with our Neighborhood Community Prosecutor’s Office, WINS, the Zip Code Connection and ACT! Through collaborative efforts with the Prosecutor’s Office, we have been able to develop a Neighborhood Strategy and plan for ongoing community clean ups, beautification projects, and more. To date, we have hosted two community clean-ups and one beautification project, with others scheduled through next spring. WINS (Working in Neighborhoods Strategically) is a group of committed residents, business leaders, and community partners coming together to ensure South Dallas/Fair Park is a place where families and businesses thrive. This year, St. Philip’s hosted WINS’ Partner Signing Day where several organizations made a public pledge to commit their partnership with WINS and advocacy for South Dallas. Additionally, through our partnership with The Zip Code Connection, we worked closely with community activist, George Battle, and other community leaders to host our first annual Prayer Walk, which was a huge success. Finally, we are excited to be working with ACT (Advocates for Community Transformation), a ministry that empowers inner city residents to utilize the justice system to successfully combat crime in their communities. With ACT’s support, we were able to get nuisance properties in our immediate neighborhood shut down until property owners make much needed repairs.

Bringing these wonderful organizations together, allows St. Philip’s School and Community Center to have a greater impact on the community we serve. Future objectives include conducting a survey to get more concrete data on the surrounding community to identify the need for new or restructured programming.

Stay tuned, because Great Things Lie Ahead for the South Dallas community St. Philip’s calls home!

Sincerely,

LaSheryl Walker