Community Resource Explorer
CPAL built the Community Resource Explorer to ensure that all Dallas neighborhoods are places of great opportunity for children and their families.
Dallas neighborhoods are unique, each with their own stories to tell, people to celebrate, and places to love. Our neighborhoods are a tremendous asset to our city. However, some neighborhoods are well-appointed with resources, like grocery stores and doctor’s offices and park space, but many others are not.
The CRE is a diagnostic tool that illustrates how resources are allocated across five categories and 30+ indicators in neighborhoods around Dallas ISD schools. The intent of the tool is to help frontline institutions act on relevant, specific data so that investment decisions and resource allocation can have the greatest impact.
Our hope is that the CRE can help right the wrongs of the past by bringing new programs and services, economic development opportunities, and public amenities to communities that have been under-resourced for far too long.
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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.
Here's how Dallas leaders plan to deal with the third-worst child poverty rate among
Community leaders launch CPAL to address Dallas’ high rate of child poverty.
- According to the U.S. Census' American Community Survey data from 2011 to 2016, children that grow up in single-parent households are up to 3 1/2 times as likely to grow up in poverty.
- CPAL combines the clout of leaders and CEOs from major city and county institutions and systems (i.e. City of Dallas, Dallas ISD, Parkland Health and Hospital System, and Dallas Area Rapid Transit) with community-based partners.
Eviction less likely for Dallas County tenants who get a lawyer — but most don’t have one
CPAL's data analysis shows that eviction chances fall dramatically when tenants have legal representation.
- Law students at SMU observed nearly 1,300 eviction hearings across five of Dallas County’s ten justice of the peace courts from November 2022 to April 2023, representing about 10% of all initial eviction cases heard in those courts.
- Renters who had lawyers lost their cases just 7% of the time, whereas renters without lawyers lost their case – and, typically, their home — nearly 70% of the time.