OUR STORY

HOW WE STARTED

Conceived out of necessity, For Oak Cliff got it's start in 2014 by Taylor Toynes and his W.W. Bushman fourth grade class. Toynes began teaching at Bushman Elementary in his hometown neighborhood of South Oak Cliff through Teach for America. While in the classroom, he saw that a majority of his students did not have school supplies, an issue that Toynes realized stemmed from the community’s extreme poverty.

That summer of 2015, Toynes organized with students, community members, and local  organizations to host the inaugural Back To School Festival, a vessel to equip the community and students with the necessary supplies, resources, and service providers to have a successful school year. Over the past seven years, the festival has grown tremendously, helping serve over 4,000 students and parents each summer!

Since its inception, the festival is an annual staple event for For Oak Cliff, but is only a portion of the liberating work provided to the Superblock. In 2016, For Oak Cliff leased an office building in the black-owned Glendale Shopping Center, offering the community free GED classes, after-school tutoring, computer lab/wi-fi access, weekly food distribution, and an event space for rentals.

Most recently, For Oak Cliff took an even bigger step toward its mission and purchased a 20,000 sq. ft. building sitting atop 10-acres of land! Formerly the Moorland YMCA, it is now called the For Oak Cliff Community Campus - a safe space to expand our pillar-driven programming. Comprised of a 13-person staff, For Oak Cliff works to identify the pressing needs of the Superblock and curate solutions-driven programming and resources. 

WE AIM TO LIBERATE OAK CLIFF

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WE AIM TO LIBERATE OAK CLIFF ·

OUR NORTH STAR

By 2035, the Superblock will be a beacon of hope, offering all residents a high quality of life.

The school-to-prison pipeline will be disrupted and replaced by a cradle-to-career pathway that puts us on a trajectory to social and economic mobility, wellness, and liberation.

We will aim at this north star by advancing 5 priorities.

OUR APPROACH:

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    CRADLE TO CAREER EDUCATION

    Ensuring every child in the Superblock has access to strong educational opportunities (from early learning through postsecondary success) so they are supported to learn, grow, and thrive at every stage of their cradle to career journey

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    WHOLE FAMILY SUPPORTS

    Building relationships with families and connecting them to resources that strengthen wellbeing, stability, and opportunity, creating the supportive environments children need to attend school consistently, develop, and succeed over time

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    THRIVING COMMUNITY

    Fostering a vibrant, connected community that champions every child’s success by building belonging, civic engagement, and shared responsibility for cradle to career outcomes across the Superblock

OUR FIVE PRIORITIES:

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    Reversing Chronic Absenteeism

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    Early Childhood Education

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    Post-Secondary/ Career Pathways

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    Incarceration and Student Discipline

  • Backbone Capacity Building

THE FOR OAK CLIFF PURPOSE

Our mission stems directly from generations of racial segregation, redlining, and divestment from our community. We know that South Oak Cliff is wealthy in natural resources and people, but investments and opportunity are not evenly distributed. We face many of the worst outcomes in Dallas and the state, and our collective movement aims to address these harms.

  • 644 individuals from the Superblock are incarcerated, higher than any other zip code in Dallas.

    ​There are 7.9 incidents of violent crime for every 1,000 residents in the 75216 zip code, (versus 5.4 incidents in Dallas), including 4.4 instances of assault.

  • Life expectancy is 19 years less than affluent zip codes 10 miles north of us.

    ​Parkland's Community Health Needs Assessment shows at almost 40% of the Superblock suffers from one or more chronic diseases.

  • Roughly 30% of Dallas ISD Superblock students were chronically absent (meaning they missed 18+ days, or 10% of the school year) in 2023-2024, compared to 24% for the district at large.

    Only 6.5% of Superblock residents earn a bachelors degree (compared to 22.1% of Dallas).