Dallas Free Press

Dallas Free Press focuses community journalism efforts in South Dallas and West Dallas, two of our city’s historically redlined neighborhoods, and that work informs collaborative projects to tackle complex civic issues with solutions journalism. Our editorial strategy is to fill gaps where they exist and to complement rather than compete with other local media. When asked whether we’re a content producer or community builder, our answer is a resounding, “Yes.”

We believe that journalism should be a public service, so we:

• created event calendars and resource maps for our neighborhoods
•  make reporting choices based on the untold stories of community assets and civic issues important to neighbors
• and are working on innovative journalistic solutions, such as a zoning scraping tool that will inform residents of our rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of upcoming development decisions

Our vision is for our communities to amplify their own voices, gain agency, and become more engaged members of their community. We want them to know how to access the information they need and understand next steps to seeking solutions and pushing for change, while also providing them with both fair, equal media representation and the communication infrastructure they lack.

 In order to make this happen, we have embarked on an ambitious plan around community-powered journalism, expanding our journalism pathway from Dallas high schools to Dallas newsrooms and launching the acclaimed nationwide Documenters program in Dallas.