The West Dallas Multipurpose Center is getting a big facelift soon, with the addition of a clinic to serve mothers and children.
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, presented a check for $1 million to the city of Dallas on Wednesday to support improvements to the West Dallas Multipurpose Center, a focal point supporting a predominantly Hispanic community.
The $1 million appropriation will fund significant center improvements, including the establishment of a Women, Infant and Children clinic, reconfiguration of workspace and enhancements to better connect the West Dallas Branch Library and the center.
Veasey said the upgrade is long overdue.
“We need to do more to help communities like West Dallas, all over the city and all over North Texas, for that matter,” he said. “I can’t think of a place in the entire city of Dallas where you see community involvement and fellowship like you do here …”
Veasey secured over $13 million for local projects this March through the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act, as well as an additional $1,383,069 for the Kiest Recreation Center in West Dallas.
“The West Dallas Multipurpose Center is an example of the resilience of Dallas and its residents,” said city council member Zarin Gracey, speaking on behalf of council member Omar Narvaez.
“Investment in facilities like this one are investments in the community and its resilience. This is a lifeline for residents at all times, but especially in those times of crisis.”
A West Dallas hub
Established in 1988, the West Dallas Multipurpose Center is home to a suite of social service programs, including housing and rental assistance, job skills training and employment support and financial learning. The center partners with nonprofits that provide health and wellness programs.
The City of Dallas’ WIC program provides access to nutritious foods, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income parents and their children up to age 5 who are considered to be at nutritional risk.
Funded through the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Dallas WIC Program serves over 75,000 people monthly across 15 clinics spread throughout Dallas County.
The WIC clinic at the multipurpose center will be the city’s 16th location, expanding in West Dallas where services for families are in high demand, according to Alethea Borrego, a program administrator for the Dallas WIC Program.
“WIC is so invested in helping families get their toddlers ready for school,” she said. “We are so invested in school readiness. We are invested in the nutrition aspect as far as cognitive development, but we’re also invested in helping families understand healthy routines.”
The appropriation is expected to fund the construction of new walkways, green spaces and a public plaza between the West Branch Library and the multipurpose center, connecting the two community spaces in a municipal district.
“Being connected to the library,” Borrego continued, “it just marries those two missions.”
City WIC program
Jessica Galleshaw, the director of Dallas’ Office of Community Care, said the city’s WIC program provides nutrition counseling and benefits, as well as breastfeeding promotion to tens of thousands of clients each month.
Galleshaw said that despite serving many residents in need, the city’s program doesn’t have an easy way for those clients to get support to enroll in other benefits like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
In many cases, clients who are eligible for WIC could also qualify for other governmental assistance programs, but these programs often lack a systemic approach to serving the most needy residents, Galleshaw said.
In Dallas County, about $1 billion in benefits funding each year goes unspent, leaving huge gaps between eligible residents and clients who enroll in the programs, according to Samantha Lustberg, the senior director of benefits delivery and utilization for Child Poverty Action Lab, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting and ending childhood poverty in Dallas.
The city of Dallas’ 2-year, $2.75 million partnership with Benefits Data Trust will study the benefits gap in the city and develop a strategic roadmap to build a more robust and efficient benefits access system.
‘Open place’
Jessica Suarez, a constituent and small business owner in West Dallas, told the crowd about the importance of WIC clinics and the projected impact of offering those services from the center.
“To be able to house a WIC clinic here means a huge impact for the West Dallas community,” Suarez said. “And I would be selfish if I continued to say just the West Dallas community. … Out of the doors of this place, I see a lot of people that come from different neighborhoods in different communities because services are not being provided in their community. This is an open place for people from all communities.”
Galleshaw said that while the city of Dallas does not have an official timeline for the multipurpose center’s upgrade, the city intends to prioritize the WIC center “as soon as we possibly can.”
Qualification for the City of Dallas WIC Program requires parents to live in Dallas County, meet guidelines based on gross yearly income and have a nutritional need.
Eligible parents will receive a WIC card that can be used to purchase healthy food at grocery stores, one-on-one counseling with nutritionists, and free breastfeeding support with lactation consultants and peer counselors.
