Summary
Organization name
Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery
Tax id (EIN)
84-3868043
Causes
Environment & Conservation
Operating Budget
Less than $100,000
Counties Served
Dallas
Address
1609 St. Francis Ave.Dallas, TX 75218
Through its program Constellation of Living Memorials (CLM), Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery empowers communities to care for neglected historic cemeteries through education, research, ecological restoration, and cultural storytelling, ensuring these spaces are protected, understood, and sustained for generations to come.
CLM is a shift in how cities understand, value, and activate land that has long been overlooked within the urban environment. CLM reframes historic cemeteries as essential civic infrastructure rather than passive, ignored remnants of the past. By integrating historic preservation, ecological restoration, climate resilience, and community engagement, CLM offers Dallas a bold, scalable plan that directly improves the quality of the built environment while honoring cultural and spiritual heritage.
Over the past 6 years, Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery successfully restored a once-neglected burial ground to its indigenous landscape and conducted genealogical studies to identify those buried, as all headstones had been vandalized, demonstrating the transformative power of ecological and cultural revitalization. Building on this success, the organization launched the Constellation of Living Memorials (CLM) for forgotten cemeteries in need in southern Dallas in November 2023, a 2-year pilot program aimed at templatizing this work and expanding it across Texas. CLM currently includes 5 historic cemeteries, each in need of preservation, with 20 more in the pipeline. Through an interdisciplinary and community-driven approach, CLM aims to restore these sacred sites as ecological sanctuaries while honoring cultural heritage. CLM has established a replicable model for cemetery restoration that not only conserves the environment but also revitalizes cultural identity and fosters community engagement. This project recognizes that historic cemeteries, when neglected, often become sites of crime, illegal dumping, and environmental degradation.
CLM addresses these issues by:
1. Restoring cemeteries as urban nature preserves, creating a network of green spaces that support local and migratory wildlife.
2. Promoting biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, and environmental justice through sustainable land management.
3. Engaging a broad coalition of stakeholders, including artists, historians, students, naturalists, scientists, healing practitioners, and volunteers.
4. Providing an intergenerational, bipartisan platform for economic, environmental, and social transformation.
5. Revitalizing interest in local cultural history.
CLM has consistently carried projects through to completion using a clear framework grounded in preservation practice, community stewardship, and partnership engagement. Projects are designed to respect and enhance cemetery landscapes and cultural meaning using durable materials and low impact methods.
CLM brings in preservation specialists, artists, and historians and works in close coordination with cemetery operators and public partners to ensure the quality and longevity of its work. Each project is supported by a defined plan with timeline, roles, and restoration approach. Long term care is addressed from the outset, with maintenance responsibilities owned by site partners and formalized through agreements. Landscape designs emphasize ease of care, and community members are engaged as stewards so that the work remains active and meaningful over time.
Recently named a 2026 Texan by Nature Conservation Wrangler, winner of a 2025 NTCOG CLIDE Award, and a 2026 finalist for both a ULI-DFW Impact Award and, most recently, a D CEO Nonprofit Award, CLM is quickly becoming the gold standard in historic cemetery preservation, as evidenced by these accolades.
LEARN MORE: www.constellationoflivingmemorials.org
Giving Activity
Mission
The mission of Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery (FWFC) is to recognize those buried in 1847 Warren Ferris Historic Cemetery and honor those who came before them, evolve an ongoing landscape restoration plan, to beautify and maintain the landscape to the standards of a certified wildlife and monarch butterfly way station, and to promote environmental stewardship. Now, FWFC is spreading its land management and community building techniques to cemeteries across Texas through its program Constellation of Living Memorials.
Needs
General operating support, funding for Constellation of Living Memorials grant opportunities for participating cemeteries, funding for Mapping Memory, and funding for Circle of Life.
Equity Statement
Friends of the Warren Ferris Cemetery is committed to equal opportunity, respectful conduct, and viewpoint-neutral community engagement. We comply with all applicable federal and state nondiscrimination laws and administer our programs without regard to any legally protected characteristic. Welcoming a range of experiences and expertise strengthens our work and helps us serve the public responsibly.
Media gallery
Organization Data
Dallas, TX 75218