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

Fugitive News

Dallas Police Department arrests 99 fugitives in summer crime program

Dallas Police/Facebook

undefined

The Dallas Police Department has a new round of arrests in Operation Justice Trail, a coordinated effort led by Police Chief Daniel Comeaux to apprehend individuals with violent felony warrants, with 99 fugitives arrested and taken into custody during June.

The program is a partnership between the Dallas Police Department and the United States Marshals Service which began on May 1, with a goal to identify and take into custody violent criminals. During the firest month of May, a nearly-identical haul of 98 violent felons were arrested, and the initiative will continue through the summer.

“Our goal is simple: to make Dallas the safest large city in America,” Chief Comeaux says in a statement. “We know that a small percentage of violent criminals are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. By focusing our efforts on these individuals, we are sending a clear message—violence will not be tolerated in our city.”

These 99 fugitives, who collectively have 616 total arrests for crimes such as Assault on a Public Servant, Manufacture/Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Murder, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Sexual Abuse of a Child, Reckless Driving, and Stalking, were taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force between June 1–30.

Of those 99 fugitives, 22 were women and 77 were men. Three had arrests for Illegal Entry into the U.S., and one had an arrest for Alien Inadmissibility - Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Officials told Fox 4 that officers used "a combination of the city’s camera system and old-fashioned good police work" to make the arrests.

North Texas Crime Stoppers is offering a guaranteed $1,000 reward for tips submitted to the crime stoppers tipline that lead to the arrest of any individual with an existing felony warrant for specific crimes, until August 31.

politics