At the Better Block @ Bachman Lake Grand Opening on Saturday, June 1, we celebrated the power of placemaking, strategic partnerships and community voice.

Better Block @ Bachman Lake Grand Opening

Bachman Lake Together, in partnership with Better Block Foundation, Lumin Education, The Dallas Foundation, and the City of Dallas, have been working together to transform 45 parking spaces at the Bachman Lake Together Family Center. Over the past several months, community voice has been at the forefront of this project, as this collective partnership has gathered feedback from Bachman Lake families, community leaders, and members of the neighborhood at large to create the temporary installation. On Saturday, June 1, we celebrated the culmination of this work at the Better Block @ Bachman Lake Grand Opening.

The temporary installation in the Family Center parking lot includes a traffic garden to promote safe bicycling, a mini soccer court, shaded areas and colorful furniture for play. The event kicked off with an Aztec dance performance by Evelio Flores, “La Danza Mexihka”, followed by keynote remarks and a ribbon cutting. Families and community members explored the new installation and enjoyed local vendors, family-friendly activities, free food and giveaways throughout the event.

Community Voice in Action

As one of Bachman Lake Together’s core values, listening to the people we serve is at the center of everything we do. “Our community told us they needed a space where they felt safe and where their children could play. Social-emotional skills and play are important components of early learning, and the Grand Opening already showed us a piece of the fun, laughter, learning and feelings of safety that all families deserve. We hope this space brings a lot more of that this summer,” said Olga Martinez Hickman Ph.D., Executive Director of Bachman Lake Together.

While this has been a hands-on project for the last few months, the exploratory conversations that led us here extend two years back. In 2022, as a grantee of The Dallas Foundation’s Racial Equity Fund, Bachman Lake Together and The Dallas Foundation hosted various listening sessions from Bachman Lake families and community members to understand issues and barriers they faced. While many mentioned the importance of early childhood education and kindergarten-readiness, overwhelming feedback entailed worries about safety and security. “We want to put our children in [local] programs and enroll them at a young age, but it’s scary when crime and safety is an issue here,” said one mother. Many parents echoed similar concerns and the lack of safe, public spaces in the neighborhood for their children to play and engage.

Two years later, these initiation conversations resulted in a vibrant installation. Nestled in the heart of Bachman Lake, the space is open for families and members of the community to play and engage with throughout the summer. While the installation is temporary, we hope to build on excitement, ideas and awareness from families to create long-term opportunities to grow the Family Center and its services to the community.