The Richardson Independent School District decided more than a year ago to shut down a preschool that had served 4-year-olds. It also had been a dynamic, predominantly Latino, community hub.
And Andy Sommerman had a vision for the sprawling, colorful, now mostly quiet space.
The Dallas County commissioner thought portable buildings at the site could hold literacy classes, maybe some community programs.
Years earlier, Sommerman and then-District 11 Dallas City Council Member Jaynie Schultz had dreamed of a one-stop-shop resource center. Closing the Dobie Pre-Kindergarten School meant that a well-equipped space bigger than a NFL football field had become available in Dallas's historic Esperanza community .
It was among schools that the Richardson school district closed after budget struggles.
"It makes you go, dear God, how am I gonna fill this place? And then when we started with the concept we're gonna go womb to tomb, it became fairly easy to fill everything. And in fact, right now we've got people fighting for spots.”
Early adopters who got spots include Dallas College — for technical and vocational classes.
Parkland Hospital got up to eight primary care and ob-gyn exam rooms and six dental operatory spaces.
The YMCA will operate classes in a senior citizen activity center.
A childcare center will be available, as will Los Barrios Unidos pediatric clinic.
A food pantry the size of nearly three former classrooms will be laid out like grocery store aisles, which aims to preserve dignity for its shoppers.
Sommerman represents the area that includes Esperanza, which means "hope."
"I have the richest district in all of Dallas County by far. And this is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Dallas County," he said. "We need to help this community. We need to make sure that we revitalize and vitalize the neighborhood, at every opportunity and every cost that is reasonable, that we can."
It’s almost a triangle — surrounded by Spring Valley and Coit roads, and Central and LBJ freeways.
Five years ago, Census data showed about 60 percent of the nearly 26,000 residents in Esperanza were Hispanic or Latino.
More than a third had a bachelors degree or higher and 70 percent were employed.
Yet more than a third had no health care coverage.
Parkland Hospital has prioritized filling those gaps for North Texas communities, said Francesco Mainetti, who oversees primary and specialty care clinics for the public hospital system.
"It's filling the specific healthcare needs that are there, but also to try to put all the help in one place, which is conveniently located for that particular part of town, with easy parking," Mainetti said. "We definitely looked at what portion of our population we currently serve here at the hospital main campus that is actually coming from the area. There is enough for us to justify having a presence there."
He said the city and county effort to create the community center aligns with Parkland's.
"It's the same concept that I think we have been trying to, in a way, go after for quite some time at Parkland — which is trying to meet the people where they are, rather than trying to bring them here on campus," he said. "It takes time to drive over here, parking is complicated and people get confused. It's easier if you meet them where they are."
This has all taken shape in a year since work started, which got about $4 million dollars in funding help from the now expired ARPA grant — the COVID economic stimulus American Rescue Plan Act.
Officials hope to open the centers doors by early winter.
Parkland's spaces could open in Summer 2026. Those areas require careful building requirements for medical care.
Parkland also plans to fill jobs with people who already live in the neighborhood, Mainetti said.
Dallas County Health and Human Services is an umbrella and anchor for the space, which also includes an indoor basketball court and a upgraded outdoor playground near a planned community garden run through Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas.
Sommerman and his staff pestered the City of Dallas for surplus kitchen equipment and hundreds of chairs from the convention center's renovation.
Schultz had since been succeeded by Dallas Council member Bill Roth, who continued to help.
Sommerman says he pitched in thousands from his own pocket, which helped buy more than 50 basketballs.
"There's always limitations that the government were willing to go, so you just have to get it," he said.
It’s worth the money and the effort, said Todd Hensley, a board member for the Local Government Corporation, which now owns the center.
Hensley said a study Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot initiated — which noted that some youth who are jailed end up committing capital crimes — hit home.
"Idle hands — it's the devil's play thing," Hensley said. "So we have after school care that's going into the community center that's meant to keep these kids occupied off the streets and out of gangs.”
Not everyone offered unconditional support, Sommerman said.
"I have met one resident of this area... saying that the people who will be enjoying the center will be undocumented," he said. "I have no evidence of that. But she wanted to make sure that I knew that she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that non-citizens were not enjoying this particular facility. I haven't seen her since.
"I told her, 'I'm sorry, I'm not gonna be checking that at this location,' " Sommerman said. "They are taxpayers of Dallas County. Come on, come enjoy it."
Got a tip? Email Marina Trahan Martinez at mmartinez@kera.org. You can follow Marina at @HisGirlHildy.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
