Alendra is Leading Change in Mill City

Alendra Lyons at Paul L. Dunbar preparing for the first week of School.

When people talk about Mill City, a small neighborhood located in south Dallas with a population of 665, it’s often in negative terms. Drug traffic, crime, unemployment, and housing deterioration are said problems in an area within walking distance of Fair Park.  With 79.1% of the population having an income below $25,000, a sense of despair has gripped many residents. But not Alendra Lyons, a former resident who has moved back and is fighting for change to occur in Mill City.

Alendra’s attachment to Mill City is personal.  She grew up in this small Dallas neighborhood and views it through loving lens. After years of living in other parts of Dallas and pursuing a career in education, Alendra decided to move back into the very house she grew-up in. Her decision was based in part on a trend common in many American neighborhoods.

An abandoned building in the Mill City neighborhood.

 

A generation of homeowners have died while their adult children, who live elsewhere, have no interest in returning to the community they grew up in. The result is a void in leadership. Homeowners who maintained their properties, business owners who stimulated the local economy, and community leaders who served residents are absent. 

Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School.

Alendra has not just moved back into her family’s house, she has also taken a job at the school she attended as a child, Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School. She sees education as the key to changing Mill City. Promoting literacy within her community, she encourages students to seize opportunities to learn and even lives next to a "Take a Book, Leave a Book" mini library. Alendra is actively engaged in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and is the main faculty contact for parents.

Alendra Lyons posing next to Mill City's book exchange box.

With a crack house next door, she soon realized that change wouldn’t occur overnight and that she needed help from the outside. As president of the neighborhood association, she extended an invitation to Dallas Leadership Foundation to partner with the Mill City Neighborhood Association. 
 

Since 2013, Dallas Leadership Foundation has partnered with Alendra on home renovation projects performed during our annual work day Celebration of Hope, strategic plans for long-term restoration, collaborative initiatives with other south Dallas neighborhood associations, and other services beneficial to low-income residents.

With fond memories of growing up in Mill City when times were better, Alendra is leading the change she wants to see in her community.

Alendra Lyons posing during DLF's Celebration of Hope' 14.