Though DLF’s relational approach to community engagement has taken us far, there are still many members of the communities we serve that we have yet to reach. In an effort to further provide resources, we established the Community Navigators program. For the past year, this program has been piloted in Mill City where our team works to train three community leaders in the areas of health, employment, and education.

Through regular trainings, they are equipped to act as DLF ambassadors who provide a more direct line of contact to the resources low-income communities need in each of those areas. Dr. Theresa L. Jackson, our health navigator, describes her process of getting the community involved and aware of all the health-related resources as organic. Her results have come from meeting the community where they are at neighborhood meetings, National Night Out events, and having her contact information relayed to others through friends and family in the neighborhood. This neighborly approach is exactly the impact DLF is seeking to have with this outreach program.

Most recently, Dr. Jackson, in conjunction with our staff, initiated a partnership with St. Vincent de Paul and their free pharmacy program. Many of the residents in Mill City lack adequate insurance coverage for their prescriptions or simply can't afford them. Through this endeavor, DLF will provide monthly transportation to the pharmacy to encourage Mill City residents to follow their treatment plans without the concern of cost or transportation.

Without the work of Dr. Jackson and her fellow navigators, DLF would not be aware of such a resource that helps so many of the residents in Mill City.DLF is actively seeking community resources.

If you are interested connecting a resource to the Community Navigator Program please contact Dr. Jamee Rodgers at jrodgers@dlftx.org 

When Nick began his first year at Richardson High School, he noticed a DLF youth coordinator offering free pizza in exchange for his attendance at Power Lunch.

“I came for the pizza, but the personalities of the staff kept me coming back”

Throughout the next four years, Nick continued to attend Power Lunch. He states “it was a time to relax and speak [his] mind.” The emphasis on healthy relationships, relating to authority, and financial literacy have helped enforce the strong values his parents instilled in him early on. During his senior year, Nick realized he would still need to find a summer job. After connecting with the youth team, he was accepted into our summer internship program. Nick would now be serving as a leader alongside many of the staff he’d come to know during his high school years.

As an intern, Nick saw a very different side of the staff and DLF. He worked with our Youth Team to plan and execute Power Camp, a free summer camp offered through DLF’s partnership with Christ Community Church. No longer a student, but an equal, Nick was able to take on additional responsibility, leading small groups and working the team to create lesson plans. He notes the whole experience as positive. “I’ve worked [for other summer camps] where they charge and kids don’t get half the education and spiritual education they get at Power Camp.”

With his internship behind him, Nick is looking forward to his freshman year at the University of North Texas where he plans to study Mechanical Engineering and Technology. 

Due to the work of the DLF Youth Team, stories of long lasting impact and leadership development are not uncommon amongst students. There are hundreds of students like Nick who are eager to learn, grow, and prepare for life after high school.

If you or someone you know is interested in connecting with our Power Programs, please contact Robert Triggs at rtriggs@dlftx.org 

Pictured left Mandrell Drakes

“It may be one of the least controversial statements in American education: Parent involvement can make a difference in a child’s education”. – Center for Public Education, 2011

Issues like work schedules, transportation, and a lack of communication between the parents and teachers have all been cited as reasons a stronger parental presence is missing in schools. DLF’s Youth Team is seeking to fill this parental gap through community collaboration and the development of an after-school mentorship program, Power Mentoring. In the planning phases of Power Mentoring, DLF was fortunate enough to find a partner in the Dallas Police Department. Mandrell Drakes is a long-time community servant and is in his fourth year with DPD as a Community Outreach Representative.

Though Mandrell has only been involved with DLF for a few months, he has volunteered as a mentor through his church, Friendship West, for over 13 years. As an experienced mentor and father of three, he has enjoyed seeing how DLF approaches mentoring both young women and men and how diverse the topics covered are. When Mandrell is on duty, he leverages small but intentional acts to bridge the gap with kids and how they view him as both an adult and a police officer. He keeps stickers and Nike armbands on him so that he can offer them up when he interacts with young people. For him, this helps to momentarily create space for a conversation. A child, especially one that is lacking in healthy parental involvement, has likely experienced adult interventions before.

There are often times barriers to trust that must be taken down brick by brick to foster a healthy mentoring relationship. To that end, Mandrell believes that “working with kids means you probably need a mentor too. More than one." He knows that he is unable to understand all issues his mentees face and sees value in connecting with others to pass down wisdom to his mentees when needed. 

Mentoring as a means to close the parental involvement gap has been shown to reduce absenteeism and behavior problems. These indicators are used early on to show that a student may be falling off track. Mentors like Mandrell and organization’s like the Dallas Police Department are needed to ensure a better future for at-risk students. 

Support DLF and the Power Mentoring program by making a gift to our Summer Match Campaign. Through August 31st your donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000!

Donate to our Summer Match Campaign today!

Alendra Lyons is a Dallas native with a generations-long history in Mill City, one of the 12 neighborhoods that Dallas Leadership Foundation serves. Upon her return in 2011, Alendra saw the community she called home as a child filled with substandard housing and rampant drug activity and decided to make a change.

Over the past six years, DLF has worked alongside Alendra to repair homes, reduce crime, and provide a safe environment for Mill City residents to flourish. Alendra now works on a regular basis to plan community events and spearhead initiatives like a teaching farm with Texas A&M, Transform Dallas, and the Community Navigator Project. In this project, DLF trains and prepares neighborhood residents to become experts in the local health system, education systems, and employment. DLF’s belief that “those closest to the problem, are closest to the solution” is the inspiration behind the program.

Community navigators like Alendra are familiar faces that are better equipped to reach members of their community and assist them with accessing resources. DLF has connected Alendra and Mill City to partners like Highland Park Presbyterian Church, St. Luke UMC and ACT but more importantly Alendra has developed several other partnerships as she continues to rally for her community.

When asked why she continues to work with DLF, Ms. Lyons states “DLF is the foundation of my grooming. I partner with others, but as far as my backbone and foundation, this is where I stay. This role is strictly a place of accountability, plans, strategy, and feedback. I don’t have anywhere else to go. This is my place”.

There are hundreds of leaders like Alendra right here in our city. They are yearning for organizations like Dallas Leadership Foundation to help them do the work they already know should be done in their communities. When you make a gift to DLF, your contributions directly support the time, training, and nurturing of people like Alendra.

Donate to our Summer Match Campaign and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar!

In 2012, Eric Sutton was thrust into an intense season as he simultaneously cared for his wife, Dana, who delivered their twins at 26 weeks, won sole custody of his 10-year-old daughter, and managed a business.

Unfortunately, after five years of sobriety, he experienced a relapse that resulted in a year of jail time. While there, he knew he’d need something greater to help put his life back together and applied to join Dallas Leadership Foundation’s Faith Based Dorm program.

While in the dorm, Eric had time and space to focus on developing his relationship with Christ and plan for life after his release date. With the support of DLF staff and volunteers, he began to set goals, study the bible, and eventually feel what he describes as the holy spirit “taking root inside”. DLF’s process is one that teaches and guides the men in Hutchins State Jail how to crawl before they walk as well as how to build and rely on their community.

Several years have passed and Eric maintains that the husband, father, and friend he is today is a direct result of the work done by Dallas Leadership Foundation. “There are programs and employees in those programs that systematically shuffle you through the jargon but there’s no real connection between the program and the human being. With [DLF] there is a genuine connection to the person. It’s part of the culture. They really receive you as you are.”

With tears in his eyes he speaks about what euphoria means for him now: a stable phone number, home, clean clothes, access to school, and toys. All things for his children. He’s spent the last four years working towards creating a stable environment built on and around Jesus. He now looks forward to sharing his story with men in the same position.

There are thousands of stories like Eric's. Many men in the Hutchins Unit are in need of hands on guidance, a deep spiritual connection, and practical resources pre and post release to provide them with the best possible chance for a full recovery. Donations to DLF directly support the men in our programs and assist with continued growth and quality of the services provided to them. When you make a gift throuhg August 31st, it will be matched dollar for dollar up to $100,000. 

Donate to our Summer Match Campaign today!