ACT is beginning its work in West Dallas.

West Dallas, like many inner-city communities, is comprised of hundreds of properties that are crime-ridden (single family residences or commercial structures that are harboring criminal activity such as drug dealing or prostitution) and blighted (single family residences, commercial structures or unimproved lots that are abandoned and derelict). Crime and urban blight create an oppressive force that prohibit the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods and take liberty, dignity, and sometimes life itself from those living in these communities.

Although there are many men and women who live in the inner city working diligently to transform their community, there is still a large segment of the population that lacks the education, financial means, and the political clout to achieve the benefit of systematic transformation on their own. It is our hope that because of ACT’s work of justice in the community, God will raise up neighborhood leaders who will have the education, desire and resources to reclaim these properties for their neighborhood.

Crime-ridden and blighted properties adversely affect the quality of life of people living around them.

These properties are conducive to criminal activity including drugs, prostitution, and vandalism, as well as arson, accidental fires, noxious odors from human and animal waste, and hazards for children playing in the area, perpetuating neighborhood deterioration. Beyond the adverse affect of the community’s quality of life, the neighbors living near crime-ridden and blighted properties suffer by experiencing lower property values, higher crime, and stifled urban revitalization. Additionally, the entire city of Dallas suffers because of costly city maintenance incurred through heightened police activity, repeated code inspections, additional trash clean ups and demolitions.

However, the act of transforming crime-ridden and blighted properties promotes safer, more stable neighborhoods free from injustice and oppression. Men, women and children can live, work and play without fear and experience a quality of life that many people take for granted. Children can walk to school without being confronted by drug dealers and prostitutes. No longer feeling imprisoned in their homes, senior citizens are able to take evening walks and work out in their yards without feeling threatened.

Making inner city neighborhoods safer results in multiple benefits to the larger Dallas community as well. These benefits include a decrease in overall crime and an increase in residential and commercial property values for the improved neighborhoods. The higher property values in these communities benefit all Dallas residents through increased tax revenues, which equate to greater city services. Additionally, bringing restoration to crime-ridden and blighted properties reduces city maintenance costs, and reduces the demand on law enforcement, code compliance and emergency medical services.