Dallas, TX
Parents fear closing of Good Street Learning Center as leaders push to stay open
For decades, families like Nasia Peterson’s have cycled through Good Street Learning Center, a South Dallas/Fair Park child care center that working parents can afford at $90 to $134 a week. Her husband and their five children spent their early years there.
But now, Peterson says the center could close soon. Center leaders dispute an immediate shutdown, saying they expect to stay open even as a funding crisis leaves the runway unclear. Parents say there’s no comparable affordable option nearby, especially for families who rely on public transit.
Center director Gwendolyn Sneed says they are fighting to remain open, pointing to pending grants and a push to rebuild their board.
But Sneed also acknowledges leadership cannot promise what will happen after January. “I don’t know about 2026,” she said.
The numbers are stark: Enrollment is down to 15 children against a licensed capacity of 100. Staffing is down to two teachers from a pre‑pandemic total of nine. The center is scrambling for operating cash while recruiting a hands‑on board to help with grants, sponsorships and staffing. Dallas ISD provides Good Street an annual $23,000 stipend through its pre‑K partnership.
Founded in 1952 as a church‑run child care ministry, the center operates in a church‑owned building. The church does not charge rent, but leaders say upkeep falls on the center.
Good Street Learning has applied for funding from The Crystal Charity Ball in Dallas and H-E-B’s Community Investment Program, Sneed said. She says the award decisions won’t occur until February or March.
“That first quarter of 2026 would be pretty much a defining time for us,” board chair Jasper Daniels said. “We will know for sure whether or not we’re going to get the necessary assistance.”
The center’s origin
The purpose of the center is clear: to ensure “the working poor in South Dallas will have a place to put their children and keep them on a daily basis, [and] teach them something while they go to work,” Daniels said.
According to center leaders and the organization’s published history, Good Street’s child care ministry began under the Rev. C.A.W. Clark Sr. with trustees, deacons and church members.
Toddlers teacher Angela Nails holds 1-year-old Jayden White’s hand while a group of students walks to class at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas. Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
An advisory committee chaired by Dr. B.E. Dade, with early childhood specialist Willene Dade as a resource, set standards around space, safety, sanitation, nutrition and staff training, and secured the city of Dallas operations permit in 1952.
The program has operated at the same site since then, originally at the Watson Memorial Mission on what was then Hatcher Street, Sneed said. In 1992, it moved into the new C.A.W. Clark Community Center built on that property, she said. The city later renamed the street Elsie Faye Heggins.
Sneed has led the center since October 2001, expanding partnerships such as Educational First Steps, Child Care Group, prekindergarten programs with Dallas ISD, and accreditation with the National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education Programs.
Jayden White, 1, climbs low shelves in the toddlers classroom before morning prayers at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Leaders and parents describe multiple generations of families continuing to enroll their children at the center, which has served over 2,000 students, ages 18 months to 12 years old.
The center is also four-star certified with the Texas Rising Star program. That’s the highest assessment level available through criteria like teacher-child interactions and program management.
“We don’t have to do a lot of marketing, because we’re serving third- and fourth-generation family members,” Sneed said. “Even now, the children that we have, they’ve had family members that have come through.”
The center’s challenges
The center’s issues began when they closed for a week during the pandemic, Sneed said. Some of their staff members contracted coronavirus and didn’t come back.
Without as many teachers, the center can’t serve as many students, Sneed said. But without enough students, the center lacks the funding from tuition to pay staff.
The center also competes with Dallas ISD’s free pre‑K programs, even though it formed a pre‑K partnership with the district in 2008.
Toddlers teacher Angela Nails lists off books of the Bible with students at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
“Several years ago when they started taking 4-year-olds, we lost our 4-year-old population,” Sneed said. “So then they came up with the partnership where the children could come here.”
The school district now enrolls 3- and 4-year-olds into free pre-K programs, Sneed said. But “that’s cutting right into the heart of early care and education” for the center, which can only charge parents for after-school or extended care services since DISD covers the core school hours, she said.
Dallas ISD provides an annual funding stipend of $23,000 to Good Street as part of its pre‑K partnership with the center, according to a Friday evening statement from Dallas ISD spokesperson Nina Lakhiani. She said the district does not have discretionary or board‑directed funding available, and that contracts executed after the district’s budget is set at the start of the fiscal year cannot be amended.
If Good Street reduces capacity or closes, Lakhiani said, the district will guide families through transfers to nearby options, including Joseph J. Rhoads Learning Center and Charles Rice Learning Center.
For the center’s leadership, the crisis at Good Street Learning is intertwined with challenges facing Good Street Baptist Church. Daniels, the board chair, said he sent letters to the church pastor, deacons and trustees to seek financial assistance and help finding grant writers, fundraisers and marketers.
“A large portion of the expenses at the C.A.W. Clark Community Center is paid by the Learning Center, thus at the demise of the Learning Center, the Social Service Center could become collateral damage,” according to Daniels’ April 2024 letter.
Director Gwendolyn Sneed flips through letters of endorsement from parents of students at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas. The learning center, a nonprofit, is at risk of closing in 2026 due to funding difficulties.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
The pandemic also hurt churches. Good Street Baptist lost members to COVID, including one of the center’s board members and another church member who used to help the center, Sneed said.
Leaders frame the next steps as a joint push: Stabilize staffing, rebuild the hands‑on board, secure grants, and address facility needs while keeping families served. Keeping Good Street open could also require five new full‑time caregivers, plus support staff and funds for security and building upkeep, Sneed said.
‘A generational place’
If Good Street Learning closes, it would become the latest in a wave of Texas child care closures since the pandemic.
State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News last year that over 5,000 child care centers have closed in Texas since the pandemic. That trickles down to a loss of nearly 75,000 child care seats in 2024 alone, according to the advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk.
At Good Street, families and teachers describe the stakes in stark terms: affordability, access and stability for their kids.
Brenda Holmes pulls the door open for daughter Aniyah Cossey, center, and granddaughter Ariel Holmes-Aguora while taking the 3-year-olds to their toddlers class at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
“This child care center is the only child care center that working parents can afford to pay out of pocket,” Peterson said.
If a working parent can’t afford to put their kids in child care, then they’re at risk of losing their job, Peterson said. That means they’re at risk of losing their home and having to decide if they should feed themselves, or save money to pay rent, she said.
Brenda Holmes said the center provides exceptional care, including providing meals and teaching manners, hygiene and respect to her adopted daughter and granddaughter.
“It’s just like you’re taking your child to your grandmother’s place,” Holmes said.
Rikki Bonet, a pre-K teacher at Good Street, has been teaching since 2000 and has been at Good Street for nine years. She transitioned there after her previous employers downsized.
Pre-k teacher Rikki Bonet sets up a container of water and floating toys for students Toraj Russ, 3, and Aziza Fabien, 3, to play with at Good Street Learning Center, Inc. on Dec. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Surrounded by students on a recent morning, Bonet said her Good Street students have a “100% readiness” rate for transitioning to kindergarten.
“This is a generational place people love because you get an education along with the devotion, the church side,” Bonet said. “…I just really hope it doesn’t close, because I love it here.”
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.
If you have been paying attention to the Dallas Cowboys rumors leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft, there is a growing belief that the team is strongly looking into a potential trade up into the top 10.
Every analyst appears to have heard the growing buzz that Dallas is one of the most likely teams to trade up in next week’s draft,
Now, Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones is only adding fuel to the fire.
Jones appeared on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday afternoon and discussed the possibility of a potential trade. He also commented on this year’s draft class, which indicates the Cowboys’ list of first-round targets is not as wide a net as in recent years.
According to Jones, the Cowboys typically enter a draft with 16 to 22 first-round grades on prospects. However, Jones noted, “I’m not sure we will get there this year.”
Dallas Cowboys Trending Toward Active Draft Day?
The Cowboys are no strangers to picking up the phones and engaging in trade talks, and Jerry Jones is always looking to make headlines. So when the draft rolls around, don’t be surprised to see the chatter about a potential Cowboys move increase.
Jones noted that trade talks generally begin the week of the draft, but he’s a “big believer most of these trades happen when you are on the board.”If that’s the case, Dallas will actively be monitoring any potential slides in the top 10 and could be looking to move out of the No. 20 pick.
“Next week, people finalize their boards and have their strategy sessions. I’m a big believer that most of these trades happen as you’re on the board. Players fall off that you wanted, and then you’re willing to come out. Players are staying on the board that you thought might not be there, and then you’re attempting to move up a little bit,” Jones said. “You might not be willing to give up what it costs to move way up in the draft. But if a player starts to fall, then you get a little thought that maybe we could move up and it wouldn’t cost as much and we would still get the guy that we think is the best player for us at a particular position for where we’re going to pick.”
Because of Jones’ comments that the team may not get to 22 prospects with first-round grades, a trade up seems like the most likely scenario.
Should a player like Arvell Reese, Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, or Rueben Bain begin to fall in the draft, it would be a perfect opportunity for the Cowboys front office to get active and make the splash that it has teased all offseason.
Jerry Jones has promised to “bust the budget” in an effort to rebuild the roster, and while the team may not have done so with any high-profile signings in free agency, draft day could provide the perfect opportunity for Dallas to come through on its promise, so get your popcorn ready.
The 2026 NFL Draft will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Thursday, April 23, through Saturday, April 25.
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The Texas Department of Transportation Dallas District is preparing for in-personal and virtual public hearings on the proposed widening of FM 740/Fm 548.
TxDOT Dallas posted a reminder about the meetings to its social media page on Thursday afternoon.
The purpose of the hearings are to gather public input and provide more information about the proposed reconstruction and widening of FM 740/FM 548 from I-20 to FM 1641 in Mesquite and Forney within Kaufman County.
According to TxDOT, the proposal includes reconstruction of FM740/Fm 548 from a two-lane rural roadway to a four-lane divided urban roadway with raised medians, curb and gutter, a bridge widening at the Mustang Creek crossing, and a 10-foot-wide shared-use path on both sides of the road for approximately four miles.
The roadway passes through the cities of Mesquite and Forney. The existing right-of-way width ranges from 60 feet (along FM 740) to 150 feet (along FM 548). Where proposed right-of-way is needed, the width is generally 130 feet wide.
That means the proposed project would potentially displace three residential and one non-residential structures. Relocation assistance is available for displaced persons and businesses.
The in-person meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 16 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Forney High School (1800 College Ave.).
The virtual hearing will start at 5:30 p.m. and will consist of a prerecorded video presentation. It will remain online for at least the next 15 days and materials can be viewed at any time during that period.
Anyone without internet access may call 214-320-4431 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. to ask questions and access project materials during the project development project.
View the project materials online here. The materials will also be available in hard copy form for review at the in-person session.
The Dallas Cowboys are widely viewed as a team that could make a trade up in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and more specifically, from their No. 12 overall pick.
It’s something Dallas should definitely consider given how badly the team needs impact players on defense. And, with a pair of first-round picks, the Cowboys can make a giant leap up, too.
But which teams would be willing to move back to allow Dallas to grab a player it covets? Well, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer has just listed them for us.
Breer is reporting that the teams in the Nos. 3-7 picks are looking to move back for more draft capital. That list includes the Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and Washington Commanders.
“Teams picking behind the Jets are looking to move down,” Breer revealed. “Count the Cardinals, Titans, Giants, Browns and Commanders among those already looking at trying to drop down in the order to accumulate capital. The problem for those five is finding teams to move up.”
Who could Cowboys move up for?
Breer goes on to note that he believes there are two players who could force a team to strike a deal for one of those five picks: Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese (or Texas Tech’s David Bailey if the Jets take Reese) and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.
Of course, Reese is one player the Cowboys would likely move up for if given the opportunity, but it would take a gigantic and costly leap. Assuming Dallas would have to move all the way up to No. 3, which is very likely, that move would cost Dallas two first-round picks and then some.
The “and then some” part might sound crazy, but if we’re going off the NFL Draft Trade Value Chart, Dallas’ two first-round picks are worth 2,050 points and Arizona’s No. 3 pick is worth 2,200 points. On top of closing that gap, the Cowboys might have to pay even more to convince a rebuilding team to move down that far.
We just don’t see all that happening, especially when you consider the Cowboys don’t have a second-round pick and might not be able to keep their third-rounder because of this trade.
Cowboys’ trade-up starting point is No. 4
There is a sizeable 400-point difference between the No. 3 and No. 4 picks, so the latter is the most realistic starting point for the Cowboys when it comes to a trade up.
We would probably rule out a trade up with the New York Giants and Washington Commanders because of the whole division rival thing, so cancel out Nos. 5 and 7 as possibilities. That leaves us with Nos. 4 (Titans) and No. 6 (Browns).
Dallas could swing a deal with the Titans that would still give up their first-round picks but the Cowboys can get back the No. 4 selection (1,800 points) and the No. 66 pick (third round, 260 points).
In that scenario, at least the Cowboys get something back beyond the pick they’re moving up for, and more importantly it’s a second Day 2 pick that Dallas doesn’t currently own. Having a pair of third-round picks will also give the Cowboys a chance to move back up into Round 2.
We’re also intrigued by a trade with the Browns because Dallas can get Cleveland’s No. 6 pick and its early second-round pick for its two first-rounders in a trade that is just a 50-point advantage for Cleveland. That would put the Cowboys in the second round.
Now, we need to talk about who the Cowboys would be trading up for in those spots. If Reese or Bailey are available at No. 4, we are making the move up. Styles is another possibility at four, but we would feel more comfortable with him at six. Unfortunately, the Ohio State product doesn’t have a good chance to still be available in that spot.
If the Cowboys can’t get their hands on one of those three players, we would not anticipate them trading up for someone else, but never say never in the NFL Draft.
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