Dallas is home to some of the best architecture in the world. Buildings designed by award-winning architects fill the downtown skyline. It is also home to the National Historic Landmark, Fair Park, which contains the nation’s largest collection of 1930s art deco exposition-style architecture. It has a historic district and an arts district, and it has architecturally significant private homes.
Dallas also has a significant homeless population, who may enjoy the view from their home on the street, but for their health and safety would be better off living inside.
We who enjoy the view and a roof over our heads can help. Paid walking tours of the arts district, historic district, Fair Park, and homes deemed architecturally significant by the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) could be conducted to raise money for homeless shelters in Dallas. By reserving a $35 ticket, you help build a case to stakeholders that these tours are feasible and will raise sufficient money to make this enterprise worthwhile.
Summary
As of April 10, 2010, some 5,700 people were reported homeless in Dallas. The current number of Dallas homeless shelters is insufficient to provide shelter for all people who need it. Raising $X for these shelters would allow them to purchase additional space, furnishings, and provisions, and to hire additional professional staff to assist in finding jobs, training, medical care, and mental health services.
The Dallas Center for Architecture gives paid walking tours twice a month. Preservation Dallas gives free guided tours five days a week. National Geographic provides a map for self-guided tours of Fair Park. The AIA Dallas chapter hosts an annual self-guided tour of homes. Each organization could contribute staffing and other resources to assist with the fund-raising tour.
The proposed $35 ticket fee would cover light refreshments (bottled water, fruit, and chips) for walkers, who would be responsible for taking their own transportation to the tour site. All remaining proceeds ($30 per ticket) would go to Dallas-area homeless shelters. An incomplete list includes:
- Family Gateway
- Dallas Life Foundation
- Gideon House
- The Ark of Safety
- Soul’s Harbor
- The Bridge
- Genesis Women’s Shelter
Tour dates and details for advertising, staffing, and provisioning are to be determined.
This is an absolutely wonderful idea! I for one would be delighted to attend one of these tours. The one thing to consider is the design of the proposed homeless shelter. Is there something that a group of architects can do to improve on the concept? What steps can be taken to avoid the typical perils (fighting, thieving, and assaults) of living in a homeless shelter? How can the architecture of the building help with these problems?
Desiree: You raise some interesting questions, which I can’t answer. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I would guess that designing a space for any group of people to live in comfortably would require that you give each person space, however limited, and privacy.
I skimmed a recent news article about a vacated local hotel (I think it was a Ramada Inn) that sponsors want to redevelop as a homeless shelter. The proposed shelter would include on-site counseling for residents suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, and/or mental health issues. Neighbors object to the project, so I am not sure if it will go forward.
What a delightful idea! I love the notion of an architectural tour that raises money for housing the homeless.
Thanks, Carol!
Hi Pamela,
Great idea. I like the way you provide background as the lead. This helps develop that “pathos” that Professor Nichols talked about this week. It provides the reader with some context and helps establish an “ethos” with which the reader is familiar.
I sensed some trepidation in this proposal. There was some equivocation that led me to imagine a tone that might have also said, “I hate to burden you, but this is just a suggestion … if I could please trouble you for a little support …”
Here are some examples from your post:
* “who may enjoy”
* “would be better off”
* “could be conducted”
* “would allow them to purchase”
* “each organization could contribute”
Rather than so gently suggesting the impetus and benefits of this program, tell me straight up. I need to know the problem in no uncertain terms, and I need to be told that this program is the way to solve that problem.
Pamela, is this a real program? It sounds interesting.
Hi, Geoff: No, it’s not a real program. Dallas does have some 5,700 homeless people, but I don’t know how many of them find refuge in homeless shelters. And I don’t know if the shelters are stretched to accommodate the local homeless population. I heard since writing this that there are to be deep budget cuts to housing services for the homeless. So I think the premise of my post is sound. Except for the money. There’s no way ticket sales would raise a fraction of the money needed to cover the budget cut.
Thanks for your suggestions about wording and tone. I am naturally reticent and don’t like pushy. But understand I will have to get over it.