Charity Challenge Returns

Make your vote count in the 2016 CultureMap Charity Challenge

CultureMap is committed to shining a light on Dallas nonprofits and all that they do to make an impact in our community. So we have partnered with Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty for the third annual CultureMap Charity Challenge, highlighting 10 deserving local organizations, one of which will be our charity partner for 2016.

You get to decide which one wins by voting in our poll from now until 11:59 pm on December 31. At stake is a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

But before you cast your vote, meet the finalists, as selected by CultureMap and Briggs Freeman:

The Center for BrainHealth was created in 1999 and has flourished because of its unique commitment to its mission to understand, protect, and heal the brain. Scientific exploration at BrainHealth is leading-edge and transformative, improving lives today and changing how the public thinks and acts about the brain.

Community Partners of Dallas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring safety and restoring dignity and hope to abused and neglected children by providing resources and support to the caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services.

Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA)'s mission is to raise funds and grant those funds to organizations which fight HIV/AIDS. Highlighting the design community, DIFFA/Dallas hosts multiple events throughout the year, including Burgers & Burgundy, DIFFA/Dallas Wreath Collection, and House of DIFFA.

Habitat for Humanity's vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Habitat has helped more than 5 million people through home construction, rehabilitation, and repairs and by increasing access to improved shelter through products and services.

March of Dimes' mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. March of Dimes reaches moms with information on having full-term and healthy pregnancies.

The Men of Nehemiah serves homeless and incarcerated men with addictive disorders by providing residential accommodations, substance abuse treatment, life skills and job placement training, case management, and recovery support services.

Nexus Recovery Center is at the forefront of specialized substance abuse services for females. Nexus offers programs for adult women and adolescent girls ages 13-17, including those pregnant or accompanied by children.

Operation Kindness' mission is to care for homeless cats and dogs in a no-kill environment until each is adopted into a responsible home and to advocate humane values and behavior.

The Rise School of Dallas is a nonprofit organization providing the highest quality of early childhood education services to children with Down Syndrome or other developmental disabilities and children without disabilities.

Young Texans Against Cancer (YTAC) is an independent, nonprofit organization comprising young men and women who have been affected by cancer and are seeking to become more actively involved in the cancer community.

Briggs-Freeman has commissioned profiles of each nonprofit, so you can read more about them through the duration of the Charity Challenge. You can vote once a day, every day, until 11:59 pm on December 31.

We will announce the winner on January 5. Now make your vote count.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity/Facebook

Habitat for Humanity

inspiration promoted

income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major metros like Dallas-Fort Worth, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas, that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support their stay-at-home partner and their child, the report found. If both parents worked in the household, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in North Texas, however, is slightly more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $22,337 to raise a child in Dallas-Fort Worth.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report's author says families will look for ways to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family