On November 7th from 11AM-2PM, the Oak Cliff Center for Community Studies and Mountain View students will host an event, Oak Cliff, Strong and Diverse: "Conversations about Education, Community, and the Economy".

Our esteemed Elmwooder and Dallas County Community College District Vice Chair, Diana Flores will be speaking, as will Delia Jasso, our council woman.

In a discussion-based forum, we will talk about opportunities for Oak Cliff high school and college students in higher education and community involvement. Furthermore, we will be discussing the plausibility and steps towards opening Philosophia: a Nonprofit Coffee House, as a revenue-generating enterprise that will sustain the Oak Cliff Center's mission.

The mission for the Oak Cliff Center for Community Studies is to empower students through higher education and community involvement. If you live in Oak Cliff, then you might feel disenchanted with the (lack of) opportunities available to high school and college students. This event gives you the opportunity to contribute your solutions to this issue. We have such a large population of students here and we should give them the opportunities they deserve to be successful (WHICH BENEFITS EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY). Education impacts community which impact the economy.

The room has not been designated yet, but I will send a followup email as soon as I get the room set. However, this event will take place at Mountain View College.

We anticipate a maximum capacity of 120 seats, so space is limited. Please respond to oakcliffcenter@gmail.com if you would like more information and would like to reserve a seat. Please include your name and number of guests.

Cheers!

This Wednesday, September 23rd, I will be supporting the DREAM Act at Dallas City Hall. For those of you who may not know what the DREAM Act is, it is a piece of legislation that lays out a plan for citizenship for students who are undocumented but have grown up in this country. More often than not, these students are just as much part of the American fabric as the regular family next door. They listen to the same music, they wear the same clothes, and they contribute to the economy. As it turns out, “they” are “us” and really that which separates can easily be overshadowed by the lines of commonality that connect each of us.

 

Therefore, I will be supporting these students at Dallas City Hall this Wednesday from noon to 1PM in the Flag Room on the 6th floor. Be there to show your support on this issue and to show representatives that it doesn’t make ANY SENSE to keep students who are teeming with social, political, and economic capital in the economic purgatory. 

 

Education without legitimate opportunity is a complete waste of precious human power and resources. Undocumented students who commit themselves to the pursuit of higher education should have the full opportunity to compete in our economy. To continue the marginalization of these students is to act as an ostrich with its head in the sand. People move and migrate and change and search. It has happened for a very long time, across continents, and across oceans.

 

The DREAM Act represents opportunity for economic and community development. If you want to show your support, come to the event this Wednesday. OR sign the petition at: http://dreamact2009.com.

 

 

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.

                                                                                                                                                      -Paulo Freire

                                                                                                                                                     

I don’t claim to be an expert and I don’t have tenure in any particular place, but I can offer my observations gathered from my experiences and conversations around town. Community in Oak Cliff is something that is coming to be redefined and transformed. There are pockets of new development sprouting in areas such as Davis and Tyler crossing (and just south of that) and plenty of spots with serious potential. And, in case you didn’t know, Oak Cliff is home to many fine nonprofit organizations doing good work. All these organizations and businesses have something in common: they are local.

 

Community development is at its very essence a product of local economic exchange (in goods and services), reciprocity, and communication.

 

Now, I’m no protectionist. I do believe in open markets (but FAIR markets) and all that jazz, especially for the sake of efficiency; HOWEVER, I believe that our local economy should be the first place we reach to fulfill our needs. When those needs cannot be met, then move to the next closest place (which could be in the next town or on the internet.) The main point being that when your dollars move through your local economy, it generates more opportunities for those on the receiving end of your money (think of the local nonprofit who can offer skills training to five people because of your donation or the store owner with three employees). Consider that when you divert your hard earned money from Wal-Mart products (although I realize it is just cheaper to go there sometimes) into your local-owned market, it gives these hard-working folks a chance to sell their goods instead of competing with cheap imports made under questionable labor practices.

 

Think about how reciprocity functions in your community via the local economy. Your dollar buys much more than your one item. In our economy, your dollar signifies your political support, your moral support, your corporate support, your philanthropic support, your environmental support, etc. Basically, whoever has the most money wields the power and makes decisions. Your dollar supports those decisions.

 

So what do you support? I know we all have enough things to worry about everyday and adding one more thing to be cognizant of might grate on your nerves, but if you did, it might really pay off.  Wherever you live, I guarantee you there is a pocket of greatness hidden, waiting for you to discover the abundance and quality of locally made products and services.

 

Come to think of it, time is money too. So consider that you could donate an hour of your time once or thrice a week to an organization. Your time supports and helps sustain something beyond your self, but the effect will affect you in another fashion later down the road. Call it economic karma if you will. What goes around comes around according to where are putting your time and money.  

 

Local businesses encourage local insight into excellent services and goods. Your time and participation encourage organizations to tend to their clients more efficiently and effectively. What also occurs is a synthesis of communication and networks crossing, opening opportunities and possibilities for you to put your skills or goods out for trade.

 

Although we all face time and chance, some seeds must be planted and nurtured in order to reach maturation. When you put your money where your community is, you open possibilities for your own growth and contribution as well. This is the ultimate reciprocal relationship and it begins with you.