Dallas must get every penny of federal infrastructure funds
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The city cannot build the future on local taxes alone.
Dallas is an aging city, and there is little question that taxpayers here will never be able to pay enough from property and sales taxes alone to catch up with the backlog of maintenance that we have.
Residents complain, and rightly so, about our streets, sidewalks, alleys and traffic lights, among any number of other concerns that, every bond program, we chip away at even as more potholes open up and more sidewalks crumble.
For that reason, we are supportive of a plan from Mayor Eric Johnson to set up a working group to coordinate efforts to capture as much money as Dallas can from three key federal infrastructure programs.
Johnson has set up any number of task forces around a variety of issues. And while we worry about the goal and purpose of some of these task forces, and whether they are duplicating work better done by city staff, this one appears much needed and correctly set up.
It will be led by Alan Cohen, who has done important work leading the Child Poverty Action Lab. Cohen gave us assurances that he is working closely with leaders in City Hall with the goal of coordinating efforts to leverage existing city funds to win the greatest share possible of available federal funds.
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Equity in Bond Planning
This report highlights DISD's efforts to make place-based investments in historically redlined communities with bond funding.
- The bond designated $41 million to create community hubs providing wraparound services in four feeder patterns: Spruce in Pleasant Grove, Lincoln in South Dallas, West Dallas’ Pinkston, and Oak Cliff’s Roosevelt.
- Community Resource Index data across 40 indicators and 5 domains underscore what we know to be true: that these communities have experienced disinvestment as a result of intentional policy-making.
CPAL's Trust Her team gives contraception access to more women
Through the Trust Her initiative, CPAL works to dramatically increase access to free or low-cost contraception.
- 1.8 million Texas women of childbearing age cannot afford their preferred method of birth control. Without good insurance, an IUD–the most effective form of contraception–can cost up to $1,300.
- Women can often 7 months or more to obtain her method of choice. Appointments may not be available for many weeks and more waits can follow, depending on a clinic’s contraception inventory.
Dallas College students who are evicted more likely to drop out, not return
CPAL’s study with Dallas College reveals how an eviction can have harmful and long-lasting impacts on young adults.
- Dallas College students who haven’t experienced an eviction earn a credential at about 7.5 times the rate of students who do have an eviction filing against them.
- Dallas College students who faced an eviction had a persistence rate 60% lower than the first-time students cohort; the eviction cohort also had a 50% lower retention rate compared to the first-time students cohort.