Community Involvement - Mercy Street

Kelly Fox, project lead on the Austin Way project and consultant to Austin Bridge & Road, was introduced to Mercy Street in April 2007. Mercy Street, a nonprofit organization, is a relationship- based initiative, which is looking to bring hope to children and their families in a high poverty area of Dallas, known as West Dallas. In 2003 Mercy Street determined that the schools in the area needed help and that the best and only way to help the schools was to work directly with the children and reinforce the parent’s efforts. Alarmingly, the average graduation rate at the local high school, Pinkston, is less than 30 percent.

Mercy Street first began pairing a mentor with each child in the fourth and fifth grades at two local elementary schools that feed into Pinkston. The mentor looks at ways to encourage and advise the student toward the goal of graduating from high school and realizing their personal potential. Each mentor is committed to a relationship with a student until they graduate from high school. Kelly quickly recognized the great need for mentors who will commit to these long-term relationships with children of the West Dallas community. Kelly jumped right in. She was paired with a seventh grader whose previous mentor was no longer able to participate in the initiative.“I quickly realized that before I could truly advise and help direct this young lady, I would need to get to know her: her lifestyle, her family situation and her dreams,” said Fox. “Through spending time with her over lunch, at the Dallas Public Library, visiting Dallas attractions and her school, I am beginning to better understand some of her daily challenges. She has very few relationships and fewer examples that encourage her to move beyond her present situation when she is an adult. I have started talking to her about recognizing that choices she makes today ultimately determine her future. I am currently encouraging her to read in hopes of her developing a habit and perhaps a love of reading. While it takes time (the minimum commitment is one activity and one phone call a month) it is a great way to invest in the life of the youth in our community.”

For more information about visit: www.mercystreetdallas.org/app.