Builders of Hope, TREC to Bring Resources and Job Training to West Dallas

The Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation (BOHCDC), a local developer of affordable housing in areas that need it most, announced a partnership last week with The Dallas Collaborative for Equitable Development.

Together, the organizations will focus on assisting residents in West Dallas with resources geared toward affordable housing, small business development and lending, and job training.

Over the past decade, West Dallas has “felt its fair share of growing pains,” according to BOHCDC. The mounting pressure of gentrification from big-name multifamily units coupled with the development of Trinity Groves have caused property values to increase by more than 40 percent year over year.

And, according to the organizations, entry lot prices have increased from $15,000 to $60,000, leaving small business owners and residents in survival mode.

Based on these statistics, The Real Estate Council (TREC), with the support of JPMorgan Chase Partnerships for Raising Opportunity (PRO) in Neighborhoods funding, went on a year-long initiative to learn what West Dallas residents would most like to see in their community.

Thousands of hours of planning and numerous listening sessions later, the TREC Community Fund published a Community Driven Growth Equitable Development Plan.

The plan—dubbed “an essential roadmap for Dallas’ equitable development”—was extensive and thorough. But the community wanted action.

Last October, TREC Community Fund got one of seven nationwide investments from the PRO Neighborhoods program. The $6 million was the biggest single investment ever awarded to TREC Community Fund.

And, it was meant to inject resources into three Dallas neighborhoods considered “most vulnerable to rapid economic transition”: The Bottom, West Dallas, and the Forest District.

That’s when TREC took action, forming The Dallas Collaboration for Equitable Development (DCED).

“It will take all of us—business, civic and nonprofit organizations—to address these historic inequities and work to prevent further disinvestment for the future of our city and our region,” TREC President and CEO Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We must address the fact that where a person lives does not influence their future success or lack thereof.”

With participation from the DCCCD Education & Innovation HUB, LiftFund, and the Texas Mezzanine Fund, the DCED leverages shared assets to focus on housing and real estate development, job and wealth creation, community ownership, and leadership development opportunities.

Now, together with the BOHCDC, the DCED is aiming to make real change.

“I applaud TREC for defining what equitable development looks like and advocating for residents in these historically disinvested neighborhoods be partners in the development of their neighborhood rather than just sitting by and watching,” James Armstrong III, BOHCDC’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Equitable development is community-led development and that is what we need in West Dallas.”