The Lab Report Dallas

Micaela Sanchez wound up pregnant before her high school graduation. Today, as a single mom and nurse practitioner, she has built an unorthodox practice aimed at giving young women the reproductive health knowledge she wishes she had as a teen. She offers appointments in the evenings and on weekends, and spends time with each patient to help them take charge of their health and family planning.

Read the (free) story here: https://labreportdallas.com/health/micaela-sanchez-comadre-health/

🖋️: Sharon Grigsby | 📸: Lynda M. Gonzalez

RIGHT Care, which sends mental health professionals out to some 911 calls alongside first responders, changed the way Dallas responds to adult behavioral health emergencies when it launched eight years ago. A pilot program has expanded the service to adolescent behavioral health emergencies to help divert kids from emergency rooms and jails when appropriate.

Read the full (free) story here: https://labreportdallas.com/public-services/dallas-police-parkland-right-care-expansion/

🖋️: Claire Ballor

It’s been nearly a year since Pat Ramsey’s son went missing in the Texas Hill Country floods last July. Since then, she’s come to terms with the fact that her many questions about what happened that day will forever remain unanswered. She sat down with The Lab Report Dallas at her Denton County home earlier this month to share how she’s navigated her son’s death, and a lifetime of heartbreaks.

Read Pat's story here: https://labreportdallas.com/neighborhoods/a-mothers-heartache-and-perseverance-after-the-flood/

🖋️: Claire Ballor | 📸: Bret Redman

Dallas is rapidly losing its affordable housing stock. Policymakers, philanthropic organizations, and other stakeholders are drawing inspiration from other cities to address the issue. ⁠
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The Communities Foundation of Texas last year announced a $100 million initiative to fund a variety of approaches to build more housing, preserve the affordable units that currently exist, and advise the city on how to change its building and zoning codes to reduce bureaucratic barriers. Other strategies, like partnering with churches to build housing, have shown success in cities like Charlotte. Could Dallas do the same? ⁠
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To learn more about how the city and its partners are working to solve the problem, read our (free) story here: https://labreportdallas.com/housing/the-data-screams-the-housing-crisis-is-here.
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🖋️: Matt Goodman | 📸: Sebastian Gonzales

In Dallas, long known as the “buckle of the Bible Belt,” the construction of affordable housing on unused property is on the minds of forward-thinking congregations in neighborhoods like South Dallas and Oak Cliff.⁠
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What could that actually look like? The Lab Report's Sharon Grigsby traveled to fast-growing Charlotte, N.C., which has become a national model for its faith-based housing and the city’s strategies to spark more.⁠ She learned about one church that wanted to protect its neighbors, and another that needed to save itself. Both helped ease Charlotte’s affordable housing crisis.⁠
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Read our stories out of Charlotte (for free) through the links in our comments.

David Woody will retire next month after leading The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center near the Farmers Market since 2018. As CEO, his goal has been to help guests exit homelessness by connecting them with services, skills, and, eventually, housing. Woody knows The Bridge is successful when its clients leave and don’t come back. That requires complicated coordination with behavioral health specialists and physicians, job trainers and barbers, even the cooks responsible for three nutritious meals a day.⁠
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We sat down with Woody to talk about the challenge of meeting increased demand for homeless services, how the city is handling the issue during the FIFA World Cup, why The Bridge should stay where it is, and how he feels now that the organization’s approach to solving homelessness is being applied across the region. ⁠
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Find our conversation through the link in our comments.
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🖋️: Matt Goodman | 📸: The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center

Angelica Zaragoza once cycled in and out of incarceration, with three prison sentences landing her behind bars throughout most of her adult life.

Then came a day she saw an inmate getting dressed up to see her daughter. She soon joined a program to be able to do the same every month. The reunification inspired her to alter the course of her life.

The Dallas nonprofit Girls Embracing Mothers was created to bridge the gap between incarcerated women and their children and heal families like Zaragoza’s. That’s why, when it faced closure in 2024, the mother of four stepped up to lead it.

Read the (free) story through the link in our comments.

🖋️: Kelli Smith | 📸: Jeff McWhorter

When Logan Ragsdale's not combing estate sales for historically significant artifacts to contribute to city archives, he is greeting senior citizens at financial aid workshops or reading to preschoolers.⁠

Ragsdale retired after 50 years of library work, but his best days are still those when his calendar is packed with commitments. While many of his peers have settled into a slower pace, Ragsdale says staying busy keeps him on track.

Learn more about how he is leaving his mark throughout North Texas through the (free) story linked in our comments.⁠
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🖋️: Sharon Grigsby | 📸: Jason Janik

A new area plan for South Dallas was created last year to reimagine how the community of a little over 31,000 residents should grow. The plan’s goals include easing the path to opening new businesses while ensuring the design of new homes reflects the architecture already there. The City Council will vote this week on whether to rezone two of the ZIP codes that make up the nearly 20 neighborhoods surrounding Fair Park. ⁠
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Read the (free) story here: https://labreportdallas.com/neighborhoods/how-2025-set-the-course-for-south-dallas-future/
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🖊️: Matt Goodman | 📸: Sebastian Gonzalez

A vacant lot in east Oak Cliff was recently transformed from piles of concrete rubble to a new park—characterized by a blue and purple basketball court, nine raised garden beds, a shaded seating area, and shipping containers that will serve as a classroom this summer. Community organizers led the effort to bring resources to a neighborhood where crime and blight are common. Now, kids are taking ownership of the space.⁠
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Our coverage is free to read—get to know Prosperity Park through the link in our comments.