Over 100 school age youth in one of Dallas’ toughest neighborhoods have a brighter, more inspiring place to express their artistic side – all thanks to an art room overhaul that DPR recently completed at the Boys & Girls Club’s South Oak Cliff facility.

DPR contributed new furniture, fixtures and materials while nearly two dozen employees donated dozens of volunteer hours to complete the project. Those efforts transformed and modernized space in a 50-year-old facility that had seen very few upgrades.

DPR volunteers came straight from the jobsite to do the dirty (demolition) work. Photo courtesy Sarah Gentry.

The project involved the complete demolition/gutting and renovation of the aging space. DPR partnered with six local subcontractors who volunteered materials and time performing drywall repairs, painting and installing new light fixtures, flooring and doors. Skilled DPR volunteers replaced all electrical outlets, hung new cabinets and plumbed and installed a new utility sink.

On Sept. 14 about 18 DPR employees gathered at the facility to finish the work, adding cabinet hardware, assembling new furniture and organizing new and existing craft supplies, among other things. Several volunteers stayed around to greet the children coming into the facility after school, then joined them in a pumpkin coloring project that offered time to hang out together and chat.

Club members immediately went to work on the truly important task: a pumpkin coloring project. Photo courtesy Sarah Gentry.

The art room renovation for this particular Boys & Girls Club is a way DPR was confident they could make a real difference in this community.

“This facility is in one of the rougher neighborhoods of Dallas and is underserved by volunteerism,” commented DPR’s Sarah Gentry. “It is pretty important to have a program like this one to serve these kids and give them alternatives.”

The project was rewarding for all involved, she added. “Just seeing the kids in the new space being inspired and their staff being inspired and so appreciative was a highlight for us.”