Photo by Alyssa High.
Some of the leading businesses and leaders in our neighborhood were recognized Thursday night at the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce’s annual Spotlighting the Cliff awards ceremony.
The Kessler Theater ceremony was hosted by State Representative for District 100 Venton Jones.
“I’m Venton, from Oak Cliff, by the Zoo,” Rep. Jones said at the start of the ceremony, citing his local roots as a qualification for the emcee role.
Chamber President Kiyundra Jones said the chamber received dozens of nominations for each award before determining three finalists for each.
Hello! Delux Carwash was named Business of the Year, while the Youth World Expansion project was awarded Event of the Year.
“We love you, Ms. Darla!” an audience member called as Darla Shirley, Executive Director of Youth World, accepted the award.
“We’ve been in the community for 27 years,” said Shirley, who wore a solid gold-sequined suit to the event. “Adults come back who were kids with us and are success stories.”
Live Local Oak Cliff was recognized as the New Business of the Year. Community Advocate of the Year was awarded to “Mr. Community,” Kristopher Harris of Credit Union of Texas.
Public Servant of the Year was awarded to State Representative Yvonne Davis. Davis said that over her multiple terms in the Texas House, and because of redistricting, she has served “every part of Oak Cliff” at one point or another.
The Harold Simmons Park received recognition for the K Strategies Award.
The Chairman’s Award was given to Chris Corpus, who serves as Director of Conservation at the Dallas Zoo. While accepting his award, Corpus advocated for the biodiversity in our neighborhood.
“I don’t feel like I’ve done enough yet for this community I love,” Corpus said. “There are over 25,000 species of wildlife in parts of Oak Cliff alone. There are parts of Africa that don’t have 25,000 species.”
The final award of the evening was the President’s Award, given by Kiyundra Jones. She presented two individuals with the award, Shane Meyer of Servpro Southwest, and Brenna Wriston of JBJ Management.
