Closing the Gap: The $25M Initiative Aiming to Improve Maternal Outcomes Across DFW
In the face of discouraging maternal health data in Texas, TCU and UT Southwestern have joined forces to launch the North Texas Maternal Health Accelerator. Since December 2024, 11 philanthropic organizations have committed nearly $25 million to address maternal morbidity, preterm birth rates, and other maternal health conditions at a crucial time for the accelerator.
The good news is that the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University and UT Southwestern Medical Center are collaborating to address maternal morbidity and other maternal health issues with the Maternal Health Accelerator (MHA).
Founding Dean of the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, Dr. Stuart D. Flynn, will lead the program. Co-investigators from UT Southwestern and Parkland Health will join him. The initiative is coordinated by the nonprofit Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL) and is based in Dallas. Other partners include Health My Resources of Tarrant County (MHMR) and Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI).
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Yes, Dallas violent crime dropped in 2022, but the number of arrests is even more
CPAL analysis shows Dallas is getting safer while the number of arrests continues to fall.
- Reducing those arrests that do not make us safer is important: 80%+ of arrests are for nonviolent offenses and 75% of the jail population is pretrial, impacting thousands of children and families.
- A recent CPAL study showed Dallas County children are more likely than kids in any other Texas county to have parents in prison. At least 80,000 of them had a parent behind bars, according to the report.
Role of Junk Fees in the Dallas Rental Housing Market
During summer 2024, CPAL began to explore the role of junk fees in the rental housing market in Dallas.
- 56 out of 60 apartment complexes surveyed charged mandatory monthly fees (i.e., “junk fees”), in addition to the base rent.
- These fees cost renters, on average, $756 to $984 per year, further eroding housing affordability.
Crime in Dallas isn’t as random as you may think. Here’s how police can predict it.
CPAL has used risk-terrain modeling to help identify areas of high risk for violent crime.
- Once identified, police and community members work together to create “risk narratives.” These are hypotheses on how environmental aspects work together to create the potential for crime.
- Atlantic City, N.J., is perhaps the most celebrated case study for risk terrain modeling. In the first year, violent crime dropped 26% compared to the prior year. Robberies fell by 37%.