DALLAS – Dallas County is working to increase its digital footprint by expanding high-speed internet access to thousands of low-income homes.

The goal of the Digital Equity Project is to make high-speed internet available in 10 additional zip codes in Dallas County. 

Zayo, a telecommunication infrastructure company, will construct a fiber optic network in those areas.

As of right now, there are about 24,000 households in Dallas County that don’t have access to the internet at all.

Families will receive access depending on their level of need.

Commissioners and Judge Clay Jenkins spoke about the undertaking.

“Broadband access to the internet can no longer be seen as a luxury in 2024. Access to the internet is a basic need like electricity, heat, and water,” Jenkins said. “But there’s a digital divide in Dallas County, southern Dallas County. You can take the river or 30 if it were its own city. It would be one of the ten least connected cities.”

The project is expected to take about two years to complete and has a price tag of about $30 million.

It’s being funded with American Rescue Plan Act money.

Zayo is also investing about $150,000 to fund 300 laptops and tech education for Dallas County students.

The deputy director overseeing Dallas County’s juvenile detention center resigned Friday, marking the second leadership departure amid allegations of poor conditions and pending state investigations.

DeAndra Jones oversaw the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center at the direction of Darryl Beatty, the former juvenile department director who resigned last month following an unannounced state inspection into allegations of “supervisory neglect” by the Office of the Inspector General at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

Jones’ rationale for resigning is not clear. He declined to comment on his departure when reached by phone Monday afternoon.

The nine-member board overseeing Dallas County’s juvenile justice system met Monday to, in part, receive their first report about changes in the detention center from Interim Director Michael Griffiths, who they appointed as interim director last week.

The meeting comes a month after Beatty’s resignation. His tenure has been marred by allegations — which he denied in a news conference more than two weeks before he stepped down effective immediately — of poor, unsanitary and inhumane conditions at the detention center.

At the news conference, Jones, who had overseen the detention facility since October, said the facility’s detainees adhered to “highly structured” schedules with educational and recreational opportunities. Beatty and Jones said there was a 20% vacancy rate among juvenile supervision officers at the facilities, leading to changes in supervision practices.

“What we do here is an extremely important job, and my dedication to ensuring we are in compliance with the law is unwavering,” Jones said at the July 3 news conference.

Griffiths told the board that he named a replacement for Jones to serve in an interim capacity: Barbara Roberts, who served as a deputy director over institutions for the department from 2007 to 2010.

Roberts served under Griffiths in his final few years as juvenile department director. Griffiths has overseen juvenile services in counties across Texas and at the state level since 1983, the longest stint being from 1995 to 2010 as Dallas County’s director over the juvenile department.

Last week, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Griffiths said he quickly took steps to begin addressing issues in the department, which he characterized as a “systemic issue” solely within the detention center.

The facility, as a result, has fallen short of state standards for cleanliness and the seclusion of juveniles, he added.

Griffiths announced the appointment of Roberts, whose first day is Aug. 26, among a few other changes made in his first seven days on the job. As he gave his report, board members asked him about a path forward for a third-party review of the center and the county’s juvenile justice system — an idea supported by Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman and Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins, who both sit on the board.

Sommerman and Lewis Jenkins said they support a “top-to-bottom” review of the system by a third party. The duo contend such a review should be broad and all-encompassing, ensuring, they told The News, that issues with the department do not resurface in later years.

Other board members, including board chair Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon, pointed to the ongoing investigations by the Office of the Inspector General as a means to address the issues. Shannon said the board should lean on Griffiths’ expertise and allow him to assess the department before deciding whether to commission such a review.

Griffiths said he would draft a “scope of work” — a draft proposal of what a third-party agency would evaluate — for such a review. He plans to present that draft during the board’s next regular meeting in October.

A handful of people spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, including Rev. Michael W. Waters. Three days before the July 3 news conference hosted by Beatty and Jones, Waters called on the county to address issues in the detention center.

Waters, the founder of Abundant Life AME Church in Dallas, said Monday he “appreciated” Griffiths’ consideration of a third-party review. He questioned why other board members were seemingly opposed to the idea.

“My hope is that by October’s time, they come to the recognition that this gentleman, whom they laud, is seeking to move us in the right direction and that they would support his intuition,” Waters told The News.

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