Welcome to Asian American Bustle, The Dallas Morning News’ community-based reporting effort examining the development, culture and future of Asian American communities in North Texas.
Over a few months, two reporters, two photographers and an editor spent several days in communities’ gathering spaces to meet the public and hear their stories.
Using “pop-up newsrooms,” we reported from three different areas that serve as hubs for Asian American identity and culture in North Texas. The result is more than a half-dozen stories, scheduled to run through May, which is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Our first article will go live this week, with two stories set to publish each week thereafter.
The News’ staffers worked out of the library at the Dallas Chinese Community Center in Richardson’s Chinatown, a staple in one of the area’s oldest enclaves for those of East Asian descent; Deccan Grill in Irving, where we learned about businesses and temples established by the South Asian community along State Highway 183; and Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie, an anchor of the Southeast Asian community in eastern Tarrant County.
More than 60 people visited our pop-ups, facilitated by local leaders and business owners. Some of these North Texans invited us into their community centers for celebrations and into their homes to break fast with them at Iftar during Ramadan. They opened the doors of the sacred kitchens of their family restaurants and opened the pages of photo books filled with their cherished memories.
In total, we’ve completed more than 40 hours of interviews with Asian Americans in North Texas spanning multiple generations, nationalities, ethnicities and cultures.
Our Bustle stories
- Diversity, buy-in from younger generation spell success for North Texas’ Asian American enclaves
- 5 ways North Texans are combatting anti-Asian hate in the wake of COVID-19
- For decades, a club that meets in Richardson has helped Asian Americans find their voice
- 85 years old and at ‘em: Inside the early mornings, and bonds, that make Jeng Chi special
- Richardson’s Chinatown: The history, development and needs of an Asian American enclave
- How a Grand Prairie couple is keeping Vietnamese radio alive in D-FW
- How a North Texas PD and Asian American enclave partnered to improve trust, representation
- ‘Uncles and aunties’ of Wingren Village: The story of a South Asian community blossoming in Irving
- Irving-area officials, religious leaders help foster South Asian enclave’s success
As part of our project, we produced a map of the areas we refer to as “Asian American enclaves,” or places essential to the identities of many in North Texas. Rather than using the term to describe where certain Asian American populations live, our definition includes areas that were formative to the identities of many Asian Americans in North Texas.
Some areas, such as Dallas Koreatown and Richardson’s Chinatown, were easy to identify. Officials in both of those cities worked with community leaders with close ties to those enclaves to define their boundaries. In other cases, such as Irving’s South Asian community, local advocates, religious leaders and longtime residents identified areas near State Highway 183 as key cultural and commercial centers.
The map will not have specific boundaries for these enclaves. We found these boundaries aren’t always static.
Carrollton’s Koreatown, for example, is anchored by H Mart on Old Denton Road. But large concentrations of Korean-owned businesses are popping up as far north as Frankford Road. We’re also seeing newer developments like Zion Market in Lewisville and an H Mart in Haltom City.
In places like Plano and Frisco, we found more than a few retail centers have high concentrations of Asian-owned businesses. However, we could not identify a specific geographic area that served as a main focal point. Collin County notably saw the largest increase in Asian Americans, primarily led by people of Indian descent, according to U.S Census Bureau data.
Our always-helpful research team added perspective to these issues and dynamics by poring through decades of Asian American-related coverage touching on culture, food, policing and religion. We learned about the history of longtime businesses and the current trends of these populations, from where Asian Americans in North Texas live and worship to where their children go to school.
By analyzing Texas Education data for the last five years, we found seven North Texas public school districts in which at least 20% of its student body are Asian: Coppell ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Plano ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Carroll ISD and Prosper ISD.
Of those seven, Coppell ranks No. 1 at around 55% of its student body being Asian in the 2022-23 school year. Frisco and Prosper saw the most dramatic gains in the last five years with a nearly 11% jump in their shares.
Several charter schools in the region are also represented when looking at the share of their student body: Universal Academy (55.1%), Imagine International Academy (47%), Lone Star Language Academy (44.8%), Richland Collegiate High School (33.5%) and Manara Academy (30.8%).
We are interested in highlighting more communities, including North Texas’ Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian populations. If you have a suggestion to help us improve and add to our map, please reach out to Tyler Davis, the editor of the project, at tyler.davis@dallasnews.com.
We also created a population map from five-year Census data spanning 2017 to 2022. While the data and the maps created by data reporter José Luis Adriano are not intended to represent an exhaustive analysis, they offer a valuable look at which parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities call home.
Not only did this project help produce stories about these communities and countless more story ideas we’ll pursue well after Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It created new connections between the newsroom and the community — an effort we plan to spread to other groups of North Texans.
