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Check Out Our New Community Resource Hub at the Barack Obama Leadership Academy in Southern Dallas

The partnership between United Way of Dallas’ Southern Dallas Thrives initiative and Dwell with Dignity aims to support local students and families.

February 4, 2025
We’re proud to announced that on Friday, Jan. 31, we unveiled an expanded community resource hub at the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy at A. Maceo Smith High School in Southern Dallas. The project is powered by United Way Metropolitan Dallas’ Southern Dallas Thrives Initiative and is in collaboration with Dwell with Dignity, an alumnus of our Social Innovation Accelerator program. The goal of the resource hub is to provide local students and families with key resources that advance our Aspire United 2030 goals, which seek to expand access to education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity.  Read on to learn more about the new resource hub and how you can be part of this type of exciting community impact work. 

Resource Hubs Serve Our Communities 

Community resource hubs are an important component of our Southern Dallas Thrives initiative, a partnership with Texas Instruments, PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, AT&T and other leading corporations, which targets our collective impact in the areas of North Texas that stand to benefit most.  The resource hub at the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy is one of a network of such facilities across Southern Dallas, designed to provide important resources that enable students to succeed and families to thrive in our focus areas of education, income and health. The resource hub model is an ideal fit for the leadership academy, whose mission is to develop young men into impactful leaders by cultivating their intellectual, moral, physical, social and emotional skills for the global society of tomorrow.  Each community resource hub created through Southern Dallas Thrives offers:  
  • Household and nutritional food items 
  • School uniforms 
  • Access to technology and technical assistance 
  • Educational resources 
In our 2023-2024 fiscal year, our community resource hubs positively impacted more than 2,000 students and about 1,000 parents, teachers and other community members. (Learn more about our collective impact here.) The long-term goal is to expand this place-based model to multiple campuses throughout the region, ensuring greater access and support for more families.  “Improving access to educational resources and services is one of our priorities in Southern Dallas, an area that has historically been underserved and under resourced,” said Ashley Douglas, vice president of United Way’s Southern Dallas Thrives initiative. “Our partnerships with community school-based campuses have enabled us to address these challenges while economically supporting our scholar network in the southern sector.” Douglas explained that the community resource hub at the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy is an exciting expansion of this work.   “Designed to holistically support sector scholars through targeted academic engagement and resources that help families thrive, we are thrilled to increase this network of support on the campus,” she said. “Through this collaborative approach alongside community partners, we are committed to ensuring that our students remain positioned to continue to thrive.”   The resource hub was designed and installed by Dwell with Dignity, a United Way partner and 2021 finalist of our Social Innovation Accelerator program. Dwell with Dignity designs and fills complete interior spaces for individuals and communities who need an environment that will support health and wellness. They empower families to thrive in a safe, functional and beautiful environment, with a goal of significantly reducing toxic stress levels, improving academics and transforming lives through design, inspiring their clients to maintain a high standard environment.   “Dwell with Dignity is honored to transform the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy’s library with the generous support of Texas Counter Fitters, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the State Fair of Texas,” said Teresa Charnock, executive director of Dwell with Dignity. “The students will find access to important resources, comfortable and stylish places to read and gather, and a space that fosters inspiration, learning and creativity.”  We’d like to offer special thanks to our event partners and sponsors, Texas Counter Fitters and The State Fair of Texas, and to Jarrod Oram and Dallas ISD for helping to make the resource room unveiling a success!  

Southern Dallas Thrives Drives Meaningful Change 

Created in partnership with PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America, our Southern Dallas Thrives initiative provides vital investment opportunities to the Southern Dallas community to create lasting change and measurable impact. The initiative focuses on improving access to education, income and health.     Addressing the needs of under-resourced communities, particularly in Southern Dallas, requires a multi-faceted approach centered on education, increasing community access to essential resources, and providing support that promote equitable outcomes. By focusing on these key areas, and through initiatives like our community resource hubs, together we can create a stronger foundation for long-term success and resilience within the community.  

Join Us as We Expand Access to Education 

With the support of volunteers and nonprofit and corporate partners, our targeted resource rooms capitalize on the community’s biggest opportunities and address our region’s most entrenched challenges. Together, we’re improving access to education for thousands of Southern Dallas residents every year.  This is measurable, lasting change that you can be a part of. Here are three ways you can get involved right now: 
  • Advocate: Throughout the Texas Legislature’s 89th session, we’re advocating alongside change-seekers like you for key bills that will impact education in North Texas. To get started, sign up for our Advocacy Alerts. 
  • Volunteer: We frequently host volunteer programs that support local students and educators. Keep an eye on current and upcoming opportunities on our volunteer page. 
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Invest in Local Education

Together, we can ensure all North Texans have the opportunity to thrive. Your gift can support programs like Southern Dallas Thrives to improve access to education, as well as income and health, in the southern sector.