DALLAS- In November 2025, Dallas County voters faced one of the most consequential local ballots in recent years—bond propositions and measures affecting housing, transportation, public safety, and community infrastructure. Every single proposition passed. Yet the story behind the results reflects a deeper challenge: turnout was strikingly low, with only a fraction of eligible residents casting a vote. Decisions shaping neighborhoods, schools, and public spending were made with minimal public input.

This moment has become a catalyst for two mission-driven organizations – Dallas Weekly, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected Black-owned newspapers, and The EDvocate Group, a storytelling and civic engagement organization based in Texas – to come together in a new, intentional partnership aimed at supporting more informed, confident, and empowered community participation.

Dallas Streets and Seats is a series that prioritizes participatory action research, parent-as-teacher approaches, and equitable community engagement. This means parents and community members help shape the stories, questions and solutions from the start.

This work aims to elevate community dialogue in Dallas so that residents can make informed decisions about the issues before them and the representatives who will occupy crucial seats of civic power.

Why does this matter? Because civic engagement is learned and reinforced: low participation begets low participation, while visible, supported examples of leadership inspire people to stay engaged – and bring others with them.

By centering parents as both learners and teachers, these community stories will show practical, culturally rooted ways to step into leadership, explain why participation matters, and provide concrete ways to pass ancestral knowledge about civic responsibility to the next generation – strengthening families and rebuilding sustained community involvement.

The partnership will create practical tools – videos, easy-to-use guides, Q&A columns, community listening sessions, and town-hall style gatherings – to help residents choose their own pathways to engagement. Its shared goal is to ensure the voices shaping Dallas – especially parents, families, and residents whose daily lives are directly affected by public systems – have the information, context, and and tools needed to influence decisions that affect them.

A Vision Rooted in Community Power

At the heart of this collaboration lies the belief that community expertise powers civic progress.

Civic systems are strongest when designed with direct input from the people who rely on them. Yet, too often, institutional planning and decision-making rely on limited feedback loops, reaching only those already connected or regularly engaged.

The partnership asks a simple but transformative question:

What would Dallas look like if community voice – not just institutional voice – became the primary driver of local decision-making?

Imagine:

• Parents shaping early childhood priorities based on real family needs
  
• Residents influencing transportation routes that better match daily travel patterns
  
• Young voters helping define city-wide strategies for safety, affordability, and opportunity
  
• Neighborhood stories informing how journalists report on policy impacts

This level of civic participation is not only possible, it is necessary.

Why This Partnership Matters Now

The November elections illuminated a reality that community leaders, educators, and journalists across North Texas have long understood: low voter turnout is not a reflection of apathy; it is a reflection of disconnection.

Residents regularly express uncertainty about:

• What issues are on the ballot
  
• How local decisions actually impact daily life
  
• Whom to contact about concerns or ideas
  
• Whether their voice or vote will meaningfully influence outcomes

These barriers disproportionately affect communities that have historically been excluded from decision-making spaces – Black and Latino residents, working families, new voters, and young adults.

As Dallas continues to undergo significant demographic and economic shifts, the disconnect between civic systems and lived experiences becomes more consequential. From school quality to neighborhood transportation options, public safety investments to infrastructure repairs, the decisions made by elected and non-elected officials shape virtually every aspect of a family’s ability to thrive.

If communities are to shape these systems effectively and ensure leaders at every level represent their interests, residents must remain informed, engaged, and connected.

This is exactly where the Dallas Weekly – EDvocate Group collaboration begins.

The Partnership: Blending Journalism, Storytelling, and Community Voice

Dallas Weekly has been a trusted source of news in North Texas for more than six decades. Its legacy includes elevating voices often overlooked in mainstream media, contextualizing local policy decisions, and creating a platform for dialogue within the African American community and beyond.

The EDvocate Group, a Dallas based organization with national reach, brings a complementary mission rooted in strategic storytelling, civic education, and community advocacy, with a particular focus on families and the systems that support children – early childhood programs, public schools, community development, and transportation.

Together, the two organizations are pioneering a new model of civic engagement that goes beyond reporting the news. The partnership centers on three pillars:

1. Transforming Local Issues Into Accessible Civic Stories

Many residents want to be engaged. However, they need the information presented in ways that feel relevant, clear, and connected to their everyday lives.

Through articles, explainers, interviews, and on-the-ground coverage, the partnership aims to:

• Break down ballot propositions into digestible, practical summaries
  
• Highlight how decisions affect families, students, and neighborhoods
  
• Share stories from residents advocating for improvements
  
• Provide clarity on who holds power within different local systems
  

This approach applies policy to everyday life, rooting it in experience.

2. Centering Community Voice as a Driver of Change

Too often, community members are left without a seat at the table when public narratives are discussed.

The EDvocate Group’s storytelling model flips this dynamic by amplifying resident perspectives – parents navigating school choice, young adults shaping their political identity, community elders advocating for neighborhood safety, or working families navigating transportation barriers.

By publishing these reflective stories alongside reporting from Dallas Weekly, the partnership elevates a fuller, more accurate picture of Dallas: a city whose wisdom sits in its neighborhoods, not just in its institutions.

3. Supporting Civic Confidence and Practical Engagement

Civic engagement is not one-size-fits-all. It can look like:

• Attending a school board meeting
  
• Filling out a city survey
  
• Asking a council member a question
  
• Voting in a local election
  
• Participating in a neighborhood association
  
• Sharing a story that influences public understanding
  
• Joining with neighbors to tackle a common issue

The partnership will develop tools and resources – videos, simple guides, Q&A columns, community listening sessions, and town-hall style gatherings – to support residents in choosing their own pathways to engagement.

Some people will vote. Others will organize. Others will tell their stories. All of these actions matter.

Responding to the 2025 Turnout Challenge

The November election results underscore this partnership’s urgency.

When all ballot propositions pass because too few people participated, it raises both practical and philosophical concerns. Decisions that will shape public spending for years were made without broad community participation. The gap between decision-makers and residents widens a bit more.

But challenges like this also create openings for transformation.

Low turnout is not an indictment of the public. It is a signal that journalism, civic education, and community storytelling must evolve. Working together to reach residents where they are, in the ways that resonate most, is the goal.

Looking Ahead: A New Civic Story for Dallas

This Dallas Weekly x EDvocate Group collaboration is not a temporary project. It is the beginning of a long-term commitment to catalyze civic engagement in Dallas.

Through:

• Credible local journalism
  
• Community-centered storytelling
  
• Practical civic education
  
• Partnerships with schools, colleges, churches, neighborhood groups, and parent organizations
  
• Events and conversations that bridge local information gaps
  

This initiative aims to ensure that the voices shaping community change come directly from the people who live at the heart of Dallas.

It deserves to be heard in every room where decisions are made.

What are some areas of civic engagement you’d like to see yourself participate in more?