The Jubilee Park community, a 62-block neighborhood bounded by I-30, Fair Park, and Crosstown Expressway, was once a robust, working-class neighborhood. Then, a major highway was built through its center, and a nearby factory (where many residents worked) closed. For decades, people struggled to keep their neighborhood safe amid rampant crime and municipal neglect.
In 1997, a group of visionary neighbors and volunteers from Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church came together to establish Jubilee Park & Community Center as a catalyst for comprehensive community revitalization. Beginning with two small houses built as multi-use spaces, Jubilee soon became a hub of neighborhood activity, engagement and opportunity. The holistic approach taken by Jubilee has proven successful, enabling the neighbors themselves to direct the growth of programs according to emerging needs. Crime has been reduced, the center’s free, high-quality programs produce documented learning advancement for students, and neighborhood seniors enjoy new and safer housing and access to robust resources.
Today, Jubilee serves more than 4,000 low-income residents each year with a variety of free programs and services under five key pillars: Education, Opportunity, Housing & Workforce, Health, and Safety. The Jubilee campus includes the Walt Humann-T. Boone Pickens Community Center, a Resource Center housing a police substation, two Head Start facilities, a senior housing complex, food pantry, community garden, and a 2.5-acre park. Jubilee's Out-of-School Time Program is the only free, high-quality afterschool and summer program in Southeast Dallas, and participants continue to produce demonstrated gains in academic skills and social emotional learning. To address health inequities, Jubilee built The Jubilee Park Community Clinic, which opened in August 2022 and was operating at 75% capacity within less than six weeks of opening. The Clinic provides primary medical and dental care through partnership with Parkland Health, mental health care available at no cost in partnership with Jewish Family Service, and wraparound programming through Jubilee's Office of Health & Wellness. This groundbreaking collaboration wraps medical care with Jubilee's robust continuum of culturally competent and free nutrition, exercise, education, and case management services to address the full spectrum of wellness.
Over the past 28 years of working successfully to help revitalize a historically underserved community, Jubilee has earned the credibility and trust of residents and stakeholders. But with the average Jubilee Park resident achieving a much shorter lifespan--more than a decade lost--in comparison to their neighbors who live just north of the highway and with most families still struggling to make ends meet, our work is far from over.
In 2024 alone:
Today, Jubilee continues to make measurable progress toward combatting our city’s inequities by providing services across our five pillars of impact. What cannot be quantified, however, is the sense of hope and pride that our families have gained.
Just imagine the potential waiting to be unlocked in Southeast Dallas. Your neighbors in Jubilee Park are fighting for equity in the face of incredible odds and the most difficult of circumstances. When you give to Jubilee this North Texas Giving Day, you are empowering our families by supporting critical community needs tied to the Social Determinants of Health: Education, Opportunity, Health, Housing & Workforce, and Safety … to equip them to build a brighter future. Please consider joining us today to help us reach our goal of raising $100,000 to ignite change in Southeast Dallas.
The mission of Jubilee Park & Community Center is to be a catalyst for comprehensive community revitalization and enrichment in Southeast Dallas.
From its inception, Jubilee has operated as a coalition and continues to prioritize the voices of neighborhood residents, 99% percent of whom identify as people of color. In addition to its work across the Social Determinants of Health, Jubilee has taken measures to bring equity to the community.
In 2022, Jubilee’s staff and Board participated in The Dallas Foundation’s H3 Racial Equity training and agency goals are continually revised to reflect community diversity. To that end, the Jubilee Park Community Advisory Council was established to extend neighbors’ voices into leadership roles within the community. On Jubilee’s board, 17% of directors are people of color, and in 2024, two board seats were established for neighborhood residents, both of whom are women of color. Of Jubilee’s 24 staff members, 63% are people of color, including the President & CEO.
The concept of "belonging" is not only a key component of Jubilee's updated Strategic Plan, but the agency is also committed to viewing its work through this lens--the experience of being accepted, included, and valued as part of a group or community, where your unique contributions are acknowledged and meaningful connections are fostered. This includes building an environment where employees, board members, volunteers, and community members feel a deep sense of trust, inclusion, and purpose in their mission to uplift the neighborhood.
Jubilee Park provides equal opportunities to all employees, applicants, and program participants without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth, physical disability, mental disability, age, military status, or status as a Vietnam-era or special disabled veteran, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition (including, but not limited to, cancer or HIV/AIDS related), genetic information, or sexual orientation in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
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Organization name
Jubilee Park & Community Center
Causes
Community Improvement
Operating Budget
$3,000,000 - $9,999,999
Counties Served
Dallas
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Other
BIPOC Leadership
Executive Director/CEO
Address
917 Bank Street