The Investing in Proximity panel. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
The University of North Texas at Dallas was filled with bright lights of blue and the shining faces of educators, nonprofit leaders and community members to convene for the Power of Proximity Summit on Saturday, Sept. 19.
The summit was hosted by For Oak Cliff, a nonprofit dedicated to providing education-focused services anchored in the South Oak Cliff area. The work specifically focuses on addressing the Superblock, or ZIP code 75216, which sees high incarceration rates with low life expectancy and low student achievement.
The annual summit reflects on that work and connects partners like Dallas ISD, community members, teachers and other nonprofits to talk about the organization’s strategic priorities: chronic absenteeism, early childhood education, post-secondary/career pathways, incarceration and student discipline and backbone capacity building.
Sydney Chandler, director of thriving community at For Oak Cliff, is one of the visionaries behind the annual summit. Her work focuses on building out events to get the services of For Oak Cliff to the community, ranging from out-of-school programming to staple events like the Back-to-School Festival.
The Power of Proximity Summit is one of the “more community-engaging events” put on by For Oak Cliff.
“The purpose of the Power of Proximity Summit is more so to convene leaders, community members, and nonprofit workers to solve problems or to talk about problems that are plaguing our community together,” she said. “It’s not falling short on us that it is important to be proximate to those challenges to create solutions for the people who live in those neighborhoods.”
One of the panels included focusing on partnerships, featuring Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, Communities Foundation of Texas president and CEO Wayne White, and founder and CEO of Child Poverty Action Lab Alan Cohen, with moderation from Dallas ISD Trustee and CEO of Arete Health Bryon Sanders.
The discussion focused on community-centered approaches to implementing those partnerships and how that can impact the children of our neighborhood.
“Everything we need to do needs to be on kids’ behalf,” Elizalde said during the panel. “But let’s all challenge ourselves. Challenge me when you see me. Let’s remind each other. Great on whose behalf?”
Following the Investing in Proximity panel, members of the For Oak Cliff team participated in a panel discussion on the strategic plan and how they are turning that plan into action, ending with a vision on how the future children will be impacted.
“They have knowledge, wisdom, and understanding,” said Eric Hurt, criminal justice reform manager at Fort Oak Cliff, during the panel. “If we can get together in being able to articulate these ideals or articulate these lessons in being able to package it, we can be able to strengthen the community by encouraging those who have a voice to be able to speak.”
After panels, the program switched gears into breakout sessions.
“(The breakout sessions are) connected to the pillars and the priorities,” said Xavier Henderson, chief strategy officer at For Oak Cliff. “We tried to give an overview in that panel before, kind of talked about it from a big picture perspective, but also a personal perspective. …There’s an opportunity for folks to learn about the issue, but at the same time see how they would react in these scenarios.”
Breakout groups included strategies for reducing chronic absenteeism, working beyond the events, improving Kindergarten readiness and transforming youth justice through advocacy and public safety.
“We try to have an interactive component because I think the goal of a summit like this for us is to try to partner with folks,” Henderson said. “Try to exchange ideas, and see how we can invite more people both into the work that we’re doing, and learn from folks and see, ‘Hey, if we’re missing this program or initiative, how can we bring that into the Superblock’ or our targeted area to try to make sure we’re not missing out on some good resources for folks.”
Attendees also heard from Cynt Marshall, former Dallas Mavericks CEO and current president and CEO of Marshalling Resources, for the Lunch and Learn Keynote: A Love Letter to Teachers, plus a fireside chat with Marshall and For Oak Cliff CEO Taylor Toynes.
Ideally, the key takeaway from the summit is for attendees to build those connections to invest in the work, Chandler said.
“I think it’s crazy to believe that you could do all this by yourself. You can’t. You’ve got to have those teachers,” she said. “I hope that there’s a Superblock teacher in the room, or a Superblock parent in the room, or a funder in the room, that understands that our children and their education can catapult a world of difference in the South Oak Cliff area. And if we don’t get underneath those rooted problems and fund them together and create solutions together, we’re going nowhere fast. I want them to be inspired to hop on board to the work.”
