Owenwood Neighborhood Association

Tonight was the first time that I attended the Owenwood Neighborhood Association meeting. This is one of the neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation is working on a Neighborhood Association Plan for and while it is close to being completed, there was still information that was needed from the Neighborhood Association. One of the things that is included in the plan is the history of the neighborhood and with being someone that is still new to Dallas and this neighborhood, it was interesting to talk with some of the neighborhood residents and hear about their time in the neighborhood and the history of the neighborhood. Every neighborhood is unique and has a history and story to tell but too often we are too quick to look at what is the hear and now rather than looking back and seeing the unique qualities of the neighborhood and the things that make the neighborhood special. Honestly, think about the neighborhood that you live in and think about the history of that neighborhood. What makes your neighborhood what it is and where has it come?

Everyone that we talked to was energetic about sharing what he or she knows about his or her neighborhood. This to me showed that these residents were proud to call their neighborhood their own rather than being ashamed of where things are. When people think about Dallas, there are various first impressions and stereotypes that come to mind but in order to truly understand the area, we need to look deeper and listen to those that have lived here most of their lives! We talked with 5 people about the Owenwood neighborhood and each person had something to add about the history of this one neighborhood. Owenwood is 1 of the 9 neighborhoods that the Dallas Leadership Foundation serves in and 1 of 2 neighborhoods that are in the process of creating a neighborhood plan. Of the 5 people that we talked to, they had ranged from living in the neighborhood from 37 years to 76 years, so there was a lot of history that could be told from these 5 people.

So, some history of the Owenwood neighborhood: those in attendance at the meeting and that we talked to mentioned how it used to be safe to walk the streets both in daylight and at night but now, you wouldn’t be caught walking the streets alone at night but you will be in your house. They also talked about how many of the houses that were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s were 2 bedrooms and did not have air-conditioning. Many of these houses would have 20-30 windows and an attic fan to help circulate the air and cool off the house. Now a days, everyone has air-conditioning especially in Texas since it can get very hot in Texas. Many of the stores also closed in the 1970’s and are now liquor stores and places that are not revitalizing the neighborhoods. The neighborhood used to be all whites but then in the 1970’s there began to be more integration since more blacks and Hispanics started to move into the area and it is now predominantly a Hispanic community however, you wouldn’t be able to tell this from the neighborhood association meeting. This is a gap that needs to be bridged, not only in Owenwood but also in every neighborhood that we serve in, since the neighborhood association meeting should reflect the neighborhood however, at this point in time, it does not accurately reflect the racial population of the neighborhood.

The Owenwood neighborhood association started up in the early 80’s by a lady named Christine Taylor and she passed away March 2011. Christine had a huge influence in the community because of her passion to want to see the neighborhood improved. She organized the Neighborhood association and started to bring in city officials to speak about what was going on in the community. The police would give reports of crime taking place, the residents were encouraged to register to vote and then actually vote, Christine helped clean up the neighborhood and through the work that she did, the residents began to have a voice in the community. They also mentioned how the Dallas Leadership Foundation and the various programs that are done through the Dallas Leadership Foundation (such as Treasure of Hope, Celebration of Hope, the Yard lamps, etc) has had an influence on the community and has helped revitalize the community. The Dallas Leadership Foundation supported the Neighborhood Association Leader and the residents and listened to what their needs were and listened to how they could help support them and that partnership continues even with Christine Taylor’s passing away. One of the churches that partners with this neighborhood is St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, the church used to not feel like they were apart of the community but through the work that is taking place in the neighborhood, they are now feeling like they need to be apart of the neighborhood and are apart of the neighborhood.

One last person that had a big impact on the neighborhood is Laurie Lee. Laurie is someone that has gone door to door in the neighborhood helping to educate people about what’s going on. If she saw a problem then she would bring it up to the resident of the house and tell them about violations that she saw. She would go around the neighborhood and pick up any trash that she saw once a month in order to keep the neighborhood a clean place. This inspired the neighborhood to take pride in their neighborhood rather than to look down on where they live.

Every little bit of help makes a difference and everyone is able to make an impact in the neighborhood that they live in. If you don’t like the way things are going then do something about it and start to make a change. It starts with one person and grows from there. Neighborhoods changes but history is an important part of every neighborhood so do some research and learn about where you are living and listen to the stories of those that have lived in the area for many years and some their entire lives. I know that from the conversations that we had tonight with Owenwood, that I was able to learn a lot about this particular part of Dallas and it brings hope to the work that is currently going on in the area. This is only one part of the plan but it’s an important part so that people can look back and see where things have come and celebrate the victories that happen. You have to start at point one and then continue moving forward from there. You can’t go back to where things used to be but you can make a difference and impact how the future is going to be.