Wesley-Rankin Community Center

Celebrating our 90th year of serving the West Dallas community, Wesley-Rankin Community Center hosts a variety of programs for children, adults, and older adults in West Dallas. Using a model of collaboration and continuous improvement, Wesley-Rankin tailors services to meet the needs of our neighbors. 

• Out of School Time: Providing critical academic support and necessary child care, our programs focus on bolstering students' reading and math while developing strong social-emotional skills and identity. The Afterschool programs served 105 students in Kinder-12th grade, offering 1:1 homework support, daily snack and dinner, free counseling services, and extracurricular clubs like guitar, running, computer coding, and environmental science. The B3X summer camp enforces core learning during the summer break through hands-on activities to ensure students avoid the "summer slide" of learning loss. The program also prioritizes first-time experiences through engaging field trips to places like the Dallas Zoo, Planetariums, and the Perot Museum for 180 students in rising 1st through 8th grade.
• Literacy Intervention for Learning Differences: Through our collaboration with the June Shelton School, the Wesley-Rankin Scholars program provides critical intervention services for 65 students with diagnosed or suspected learning differences like dyslexia or ADHD. This intervention supplements or replaces what schools are unable to provide due to limited resources. 3rd grade literacy rates are predictive indicators for things like income and incarceration, so Wesley-Rankin's early intervention is critical.
• College and Career Readiness: 60 students are enrolled in the WR Aspiring Professional (WRAP) program, making important strides to prepare for life after high school. The program underscores the importance of soft skills like communication, time management, and self-awareness as the building blocks for professional success and provides explicit education, mentorship, and paid summer internships to develop these skills in students so they have a pathway to earn a living wage in any career. Beginning in the second year of the program, students are paid for their time spent learning to supplement family income and provide a means to practice the core tenets of the program's financial literacy education.
• Ongoing Adult Education: The Adult Academy provides workshops and 9-week courses to adults based on feedback from the community. These courses cover topics like parenting, mental health, nutrition and health, ESL, and housing and homeownership. Classes are offered in the mornings and evenings to accommodate different schedules and free child care is always provided to remove barriers to education. 
• Homestead Preservation: Over the past decade, property taxes have increased by over 1,200% for some homeowners in West Dallas due to new development. Wesley-Rankin has responded to the changes in our neighborhood by providing a variety of free resources to homeowners in the community to ensure they can maintain their properties. These services include support in filing homestead exemptions, filing property tax appeals, and law services from Haynes Boone to clear title issues and establish wills, and property tax assistance in partnership with Builders of Hope to ensure that legacy West Dallas residents can pay off their back taxes. Last year, 93 West Dallas families received $84,422.77 in support of their 2024 property tax bills, preserving over $24 million in generational wealth.
• Holistic Health Support for Older Adults: Known as "Casa Feliz," the older adult program fosters social networks, enhances strength and balance, promotes cognitive health, promotes healthy nutrition, and manages chronic diseases. Breakfast and lunch are served daily, taking into account individual dietary needs. Daily exercise classes, along with a vibrant schedule of activities in dance, art, and music, contribute to active lifestyles. The program visits homebound older adults to reduce isolation and provide necessary resources to those who are no longer able to attend the Center.

Wesley-Rankin continues to respond to needs in the neighborhood. We have a history of being a site of support in times of the pandemic, winter storms, housing crisises and other events that come our way. Although the world tends to be unpredictable, the West Dallas community can rest assured that Wesley-Rankin will continue to assess and provide resources where most needed. Your support is needed now more than ever to ensure our story in West Dallas continues.