Photo by Lauren Allen.
Last week, the Advocate hosted a Q&A at the Turner House as an opportunity for members of the community to meet me, Emma Ruby, the editor of the Oak Cliff Advocate.
First, a huge thank you to the Turner House, Peaberry Coffee and Ampelos Wines for the donations that made this event possible. And second, apologies to neighbors who may have been relying on a livestream to access the Q&A. Unfortunately, we encountered some technical issues and were unable to provide a stable, glitch free viewing experience.
So if you missed the event but want to know more, here’s the rundown of what we covered:
Note: Due to the interrupted broadcast, this is not a direct transcript of the Q&A. Sections have been edited for clarity and brevity, and sections missing from the livestream have been transcribed as accurately as possible.
Introduction:
My name is Emma Ruby and I am the editor of the Oak Cliff Advocate! I took over this role in November, 2022, so I’ve been here for almost a year figuring things out. Now we’re at the point that I kind of know what’s going on and feel like I’m benefiting the neighborhood!
I grew up in Arlington but spent a lot of time in North Oak Cliff and West Dallas while in high school. I interned with the Dallas Morning News in 2017 and 2019 where I got a lot of experience reporting on Dallas, and I always really liked coming to Oak Cliff for my stories. I studied journalism at Loyola University in New Orleans, and worked on a national investigative team reporting on healthcare during that time before moving back to Dallas for this job.
Now I live near the Stevens Park golf course, where I take my dog for lots of walks. I spend a lot of time in Bishop Arts too!
The Qs and As
Why haven’t you written a story about the Martin Weiss Recreation Center? So first of all, specifically with the Weiss Rec Center, I’ve been keeping my eye on that project for a little while. I know that the bond task force subcommittee has recommended that as a project that should be included in the 2024 bond, and I think they’ve recommended $9 or $10 million be put towards redoing the center. So that will be a project I keep an eye on about whether it does or does not get included in the final bond package, and how that impacts neighbors… More broadly, in terms of what the Advocate does or does not cover… every time I run into Albert Mata he says he thinks I am the person who knows the most about what’s going on in Oak Cliff. I never really see it that way, I know nothing about Oak Cliff unless neighbors have told me about something. As far as certain topics, if we haven’t covered it it isn’t because we aren’t interested in covering it. It’s usually because I haven’t heard from neighbors about the topic, or seen the topic firsthand. If there is something our neighbors want to see coverage of, I always encourage them to email me at eruby@advocatemag.com because I want to know what matters to them.
What would you consider some of the best ways neighborhood associations can benefit communities? I think something about the Advocate that is so great is how accessible we are. We don’t have a paywall, charge for magazines or limit how much content you can read. I have found a lot of success in covering neighborhoods by getting to know their neighborhood associations and hearing what is going on in that community… If neighborhood associations want to build a relationship and use the Advocate as a resource, we can easily disseminate information that is accessible to the community.
What is the Advocate’s definition of Oak Cliff and their coverage area? We follow the belief that Oak Cliff proper is south of I-30, west of I-35 and north of I-20. Obviously there is a little bubble over by the zoo and into the Cedars where we expand to cover South Oak Cliff High School, Longhorn Ballroom, Tenth Street, etc. We also tend to cover parts of West Dallas such as Trinity Groves and Sylvan 30, which are cultural things that Oak Cliff residents tend to claim, but they aren’t in Oak Cliff. We tend to stay within those margins for the most part. We are working to extend our coverage to the Southern half of Oak Cliff. In the last year, a lot of my sources and handle on this job have focused on the Northern part of Oak Cliff, but as I get to know more neighbors I am building up more robust coverage of the neighborhoods South of Jefferson Boulevard.
What are some big stories you are hoping to work on in the next year? In the next year I think everything is going to be about the bond. We’re currently sitting at a $1.1 billion bond package, and our neighborhood needs to know exactly what is, and what isn’t included. Earlier this week, the bond subcommittees released the list of recommended projects that will be used to help guide the bond task force in building the final package. I know the Sylvan/Colorado intersection not being recommended has been a huge thing for this neighborhood, so continuing to look into projects like that will be very important. Also, I love writing stories about the people who make Oak Cliff Oak Cliff and I plan to continue those human interest stories. I love things like groups of people who take care of a cemetery for no other reason than because someone should. I love people who build small businesses out of their backyard. One story I am really intrigued by is the legacy of high school sports in Oak Cliff and South Dallas. Four of DISD’s six football state championships have come from Oak Cliff, and two are in the last year. Basketball championship winners come out of Oak Cliff, star athletes come out of Oak Cliff. I think it’s a huge rallying point for our neighborhood I would like to tap into. Just to get specific about one story I’ve been thinking about a lot.
I actually noticed a section of Hampton on the list of recommended bond projects, and I can’t figure out what the project is? Off the top of my head I’m not familiar with the project, but I do know that this bond coverage in the next year will have to be a community effort. Millions of dollars will be allocated to Oak Cliff projects, and only 5% of our projects were even recommended. As the bond progresses, I really encourage neighbors to reach out to me about anything related to the bond to help make sure the Advocate is covering as much as possible. I am happy to email city council offices and city planners to try and get to the bottom of specific projects, and as long as neighbors let me know what projects they need more information on I will do my best to get that information so everyone can know.
On the Advocate’s transition into being a nonprofit: The last thing I’ll touch on this evening is our transition into nonprofit status that we made in 2021. First of all, the Advocate’s transition into being a nonprofit is following the current trend in media we’re seeing nationally. Nonprofit newsrooms started years ago, and most often revolved around hyper specific coverage. For instance, I’m thinking about the Marshall Project which covers criminal justice. But being a nonprofit allows us to truly be for the neighborhood. We don’t have a financial aspect pushing one agenda or another in our coverage, we are truly for Oak Cliff, by Oak Cliff. And our neighbors can read our work knowing our journalistic ethics haven’t been compromised by money. Additionally, becoming a nonprofit has opened us up to things like federal grants and funding that are only available for nonprofit journalism. We are a registered 501(c)(3) so we also participate in campaigns such as North Texas Giving Day to raise money. It’s through grants, advertisements and donations from our neighbors that we exist.
