Sat, May 04South Dallas Cultural CenterMay 04, 2024, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM CDTJoin us of our third year of running the most intentional Black space in the DFW - the Sunny South Dallas Food Park! All about Black joy in public/private spaces, curating safe space for Black people to exist as themselves, and to empower Black economic mobility in South Dallas! See you there!
The Sunny South Dallas Food Park is a community-driven initiative that seeks to create economic mobility and opportunity for South Dallas. We are an urban planning and business incubator that provides a safe space for Black-owned businesses to thrive. By building community equity, we are committed to investing in generational wealth for the South Dallas community. Your donation helps us further our mission of developing sustainable and equitable solutions for the South Dallas community.
Moving forward anything related to the Sunny South Dallas Food Park will be cross promoted and represented by the nonprofit organization, Prolific PL4CES, and future information will be listed on their website.
Thank you for your support!
VENDOR PROCESS
For our December food park we will be running the vendor process a little different! Instead of opening up a call for vendors we will be creating a CURATED selection of vendors (new and returning) that connect to the overall vision and plan of where the food park is headed. This is in no way to discredit any business we've worked with or that's been a part of previous food parks but as we begin our journey towards securing a permanent location we are dedicating more time and effort to building with people that understand and recognize what we're doing.
Emails will be sent to the selected vendors with further instructions and details of what's required, vendor fee, and any supporting information we may need. Keeping it simple yet focusing on curating a true community-led space that supports growth, networking, and building sustainable Black-owned businesses.
Ultimately, our goal is and continues to be to create a permanent space to house elements of the food park that is accessible to the South Dallas community on a regular basis. This space consists of healthy food options, food trucks/trailers on occasion, spaces for businesses to office at in South Dallas, curating a safe communal space for growing entrepreneurs, and developing a community operated grocer!
Thank you for supporting all that we've done in the last 2.5 years - we certainly wouldn't be able to do this work without you!
SPONSOR OPPORTUNITY!
In the true fashion of community we want to encourage a space of collective economics in South Dallas! Our goal is to grow, empower, connect, and coordinate more Black owned businesses and other minority owned businesses in a space that encourages them to GROW! This is also in efforts to fund Black and other minority owned businesses, find capital resources, and carve a permanent space for their businesses to THRIVE!
The Sunny South Dallas Food Park is an extension of an urban planning model for community placemaking of spaces and places particularly in communities of color. It's a for-profit space that encourages generational wealth through Black empowerment, entrepreneurship, collective economics, resources, and incubation for the sustainability of Black owned business development. Our model is a mixture of urban planning, tactical urbanism design, third place ideals, and the incubator space inspired by the late great Nipsey Hussle's Vector90 project in LA. We're on the road to finding a PERMANENT home in South Dallas with permanent, sustainable, and effective resources for businesses and residents alike in South Dallas.
We look forward to bringing sponsors into the family that is the food park that allows mutual benefit for businesses and organizations to understand what we do/who we are while also bridging a relationship that fosters trust and intention with the community of South Dallas! We look forward to building a relationship with you/your business!
WELCOME TO THE SUNNY SOUTH DALLAS FOOD PARK!
You're not lost - this is the same food park you know just with a different name! The Sunny South Dallas Food Park at Fair Park (SSDFP), formerly known as the MLK Food Park, is the revamped and rejuvenated concept of the original food park. The SSDFP is an indoor AND outdoor space that invites a variety of businesses particularly those that are Black owned and/or based in South Dallas.
Now taking place inside of Fair Park's campus, in partnership with Fair Park First, the SSDFP at Fair Park is geared towards finding a permanent home to curate this space on a regular basis with open accessibility to the South Dallas community! With that in mind we are setting our sights on incorporating a business incubator with wellness elements, programming for teens/young adults, Black (and other minority) owned businesses, access to the entire Fair Park campus, and a greater sense of a safe community space for South Dallas' Black residents.
The history of Fair Park is one embedded in racist policies, motives, and hatred that's been told from various perspectives. It's no secret (or shouldn't be) what the city of Dallas did to Black residents of South Dallas to make way for the present-day Fair Park. Hundreds of Black families were displaced from their homes to make a way for this massive park space that unbeknownst to them they would never truly have access to. It's hateful past, it's a past that hasn't been fully recognized nor acknowledged, it hasn't been a priority to truly connect this community to Fair Park. Our intention is not to offer any mediation on Fair Park's behalf because they were and still ARE very much responsible for the destruction of Black South Dallas - economically, financially, emotionally, and the possibility of generational wealth.
We are NOT deferring the obvious hate - we are set to make Fair Park accessible to the Black folks they forced out back then and continue to do so in 2022. The food park is WAY more than bringing a bunch of food trucks and vendors out for a singular event that brings a lot of attention then leaves. The damage has been done and continues to perpetuate a sense of gentrification to this community that's a hub of Black excellence and history in South Dallas. We know it's an uphill battle to gain trust from this community, to truly understand what they endured during the time of being displaced, and the wounds of having no true apology from the city or those who caused this destruction. But we're dedicated to building trust through this space that respects the past to build the community South Dallas' Black residents truly deserve.
There's a lot to tackle in the fight for restorative justice and righting the wrongs of the past in South Dallas. There are some elements taking place that the community and anyone else looking to be part of this community as a developer, partner or anything in between you should be in tune. Below are links to those efforts and plans taking place in South Dallas.
We hope to have you become a part of this space and the SSDFP family!