The former Cowboy purchased the building to redevelop it in 2019.
By Emily Donaldson and Valeria Olivares
In the two decades since the University of North Texas at Dallas opened in the southern part of the city, the school has provided an education for local students who graduate and largely return to work or continue their studies in the surrounding community.
Now the school wants to amplify higher education resources in a region of Dallas that has long been underserved and under-resourced.
“Historically, inequitable educational opportunities have existed within these communities,” said Nakia Douglas, executive director of TRIO & pre-collegiate programs at UNT-Dallas. “The intentionality of us spreading and continuing to extend our services and programs and support for these communities is essential to redefine the narrative.”
On Thursday morning, area leaders and former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith officially opened a facility aimed at getting more kids on track for college and providing more job opportunities in southern Dallas.
The 4315 Innovation Center — purchased in 2019 and redeveloped by Smith — will house programming by community groups and UNT-Dallas for kids in the area and professional development workshops for law enforcement.
Officials hope the center becomes a pipeline that engages students from a young age.
UNT-Dallas’ Rising Blazers program, launched in summer 2020, will offer mentoring, leadership development and after school activities at the center for students in the 75210, 75215, 75241 and 75216 ZIP codes, all of which are located in South Dallas or Oak Cliff.
The program is open to students ages six through 17 and serves at a minimum 1,450 students, Douglas said. (Douglas serves as a member of the Education Lab’s advisory board.)
The new innovation center will also host law enforcement training — such as in leadership development — through UNT-Dallas’ Caruth Police Institute. Programming starts Friday at the innovation center.
Conversations surrounding the building’s redevelopment between Smith and UNT-Dallas have been in the works for more than three years. Smith hopes the programming at the center encourages more investment in South Dallas.
“We expect people to come from here and go into the community and transform the community in a different way,” Smith said.
The new building also allows for the university to extend its partnership with Dallas College since both institutions have space in it, UNT-Dallas President Bob Mong said. The community college offers hands-on training programs in construction and robotics at the center.
Officials hope more of those students will go on to enroll at UNT-Dallas thanks to the center.
“Most of our students come from Dallas and the surrounding communities,” said Mong, who is a former editor of The News. “This goes hand in hand with our vision to serve this area.”
The center’s opening signals a period of growth for UNT-Dallas, which started offering degree-related programs in 2000. The higher education institution received $100 million for the construction of a science building during the most recent legislative session. Plans for the building are in early stages. The building is expected to open in 2025.
Thursday’s ribbon cutting featured the opening of UNT-Dallas’ first outreach facility.
“The best is yet to come,” said state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, noting that the campus has the ability to serve many more students than it currently does. UNT-Dallas’ fall enrollment was nearly 4,200 students. “If you have 35,000, 40,000 students here in this area, you no longer have the conversation about the north and the south.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
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