Family-Friendly Texas

Dallas suburbs own yet another list of best U.S. cities for families

15 Texas cities rank among the best places for young families.

Photo by Jon Shapley

A new report has affirmed what many parents in the northern Dallas suburbs already know. According to Apartment List, North Texas has two of the top 10 cities for young families: Allen and Frisco.

Allen claims the No. 2 spot overall for the “stellar graduation rate” in Allen ISD, as well as its sportiness. “Families that love sports will find this Dallas suburb extra appealing: The high school football team has won two of the last three state championships, and Allen is the hometown of champion Olympic gymnast Carly Patterson,” reads the description. No mention of the Eagle Stadium debacle, however.

Frisco ranks No. 5. It also gets props for great schools, as well as affordability, safety and “plenty of children.”

For its rankings, Apartment List researchers centered their analysis around four factors they identified as being important to families: safety (number of violent crimes and property crimes per 100,000 residents), housing cost (percentage of the average income required to rent the average two-bedroom apartment), school quality (high school graduation rate for public school districts), and child friendliness (percentage of population under 18 years of age). They applied this methodology to nearly 500 cities to identify the top 100.

Other North Texas cities on the list include Flower Mound (No. 11), McKinney (No. 20), Mansfield (No. 24), Grapevine (No. 41) and Plano (No. 48).

In fact, the Lone Star State is all over this list, and more than half of the top 100 cities are located in just four states: Texas, California, Michigan and Minnesota.

From Central Texas, Pflugerville, Round Rock and Georgetown claim the Nos. 29, 31 and 49 spots, respectively. New Braunfels lands at No. 59 and Temple at No. 76. Three Houston suburbs secured spots in the top 50 as well: Pearland (21), League City (34) and Sugar Land (39).

The No. 1 U.S. spot for families is Fishers, Indiana. Naperville, Illinois, and Castle Rock, Colorado, round out the top five.

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Homeless News

Downtown Dallas homeless service Stewpot lands bigger better space

The Stewpot

It's official: The Stewpot, a community program that serves the homeless, has a new home. According to a release, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas — the organization that oversees the Stewpot — has acquired the CitySquare Community Center building at 1610 S. Malcolm X Blvd. where the StewPot will soon reside.

“This new facility will allow us to better deliver our programs and continue to support the 12,000 people served annually by CitySquare’s Neighbor Resource Center and Food Pantry programs,” said Brenda Snitzer, executive director of The Stewpot.

The Stewpot is a community ministry of First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. Established in 1975, it began with a concerned group of church members who started preparing lunch for the congregation's homeless and hungry neighbors.

It serves those experiencing homelessness and poverty. Its programs have tripled in size in recent years, and the ministry has outgrown its current space at 1835 Young St. across from the church.

When CitySquare announced earlier this year that it would cease operations and sell its property by the end of the year, First Presbyterian leaped in to make a bid on the space. Members voted on Sunday, December 8 to approve the acquisition. The closing is scheduled for Friday, December 13. The Stewpot will begin moving into the new space later this month.

As a part of the acquisition, The Stewpot will continue two of CitySquare’s core programs: its Food Pantry and its Neighbor Resource Center, which helps people with housing options, SNAP, WIC, healthcare, financial assistance, and mental health services.

The property is a mile from The Stewpot’s current facility on Young Street, across the street from the church. With this acquisition, The Stewpot will move its operations and offices, while continuing to serve more than 1,000 meals daily at The Bridge downtown.

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