For this North Dallas project, we worked to turn an empty parking lot into a plaza, creating a safer space for students as they walked to and from school. It had been a rough couple of weeks: a tornado had ripped through Dallas just a couple blocks from the project site; it was hard to convince property owners to remove the bars from their store windows; and as always, time and budgets were short. We were racing to get everything finished, and at 6 pm, a group of about 100 neighborhood kids descended on the site. We have seen many incredible moments when a project is officially unveiled, but this one was unlike any other. Kids were squealing with delight as they (stress) tested out the swings, explored the renovated shipping container, and found their self-portraits on the tile wall. Several of them hugged us. One of them exclaimed it was like Disney World. ​ This project served as an example of one of our permanent installations that has transitioned into a new stage of programming and altering through a community manager working to engage the community and perform continued studies to improve the space's safety and function. The intervention has been named TBK Bank Plaza in honor of the programming grant given by TBK Bank to fund the success of our Vickery project's second phase. READ ARTICLE: https://www.betterblock.org/post/fighting-crime-with-design