Our Mission
We are working to remove the physical and economic barriers that have divided our neighborhoods, reinforced segregation, and stifled economic opportunity.
Our short-term goal is to remake Dallas from a city built for commuters to a city built for its residents by reducing the primacy of the automobile, investing in safe and useful choices in mobility, and building neighborhoods where people can live, work and play.
Our long-term goal is to restore complete neighborhoods of sufficient density throughout our city where jobs and basic services—housing, transit, schools, parks, and retail—are available within a short distance that is navigable by everyone. A new Dallas is a city that enables its residents to flourish in neighborhoods that are robust and life-enhancing.
We believe Dallas needs to invest in its:
Physical Capital
We need an infrastructure more conducive to the city’s needs and the 21st century. We now have a city built for commuters. We need to rebuild it for residents. We need a downtown that is friendly to pedestrians and encourages people to want to live and play, as well as work, there. We need to connect housing and jobs by bringing them nearer to each other as well as with a transit network that connects them.
Social Capital
When neighborhoods are cut off and isolated, they deteriorate. Segregation is re-enforced. By reconnecting neighborhoods and encouraging new private investment, we can repopulate vast areas of our city and restore vibrancy to areas long neglected. We should encourage new “downtowns” within the city for people who want to celebrate their ethnic and cultural traditions. Our goal is to rebuild a city of connections, community, and neighborliness.
Human Capital
We need to invest in our existing residents – in their streets, their sidewalks, and city services. Our intent is plain: to reverse the course of outwards to the north and beyond so that it flows back to downtown and the south. We acknowledge that new investment can have negative impacts. We believe strongly in property tax caps and low-cost home improvement loans so that residents can enjoy the benefits of growth instead of being forced out by it.
“Decades ago, the city was torn up and redone in the name of traffic mobility. That was the wrong goal. The real goals ought to be social and economic mobility.”
-- Patrick Kennedy
Leadership Team
Miguel Solis
Miguel Solis is part of the leadership council for the Coalition for a New Dallas. Since 2009, he has served the residents of Dallas in the areas of education and housing. In 2013, Miguel was elected to the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees at the age of 27. During his tenure he has also served as the Board President and Vice-President making him the youngest person ever to have held these roles.
As Dallas ISD Trustee, Miguel's efforts have included drafting and unanimously passing the district’s first early childhood education policy, a ban on out-of-school suspensions for the district’s youngest children which is now state law, a comprehensive racial equity policy and department, and helping to create the district’s revolutionary teacher excellence evaluation, support, and pay system among other initiatives.
Lynn McBee
Lynn McBee is the Co-Chair of the Coalition for a New Dallas. She is a philanthropist and former mayoral candidate for the city of Dallas.
Lynn is the CEO of the Young Women’s Preparatory Network and is a former biochemist researcher. She has been a civic leader for the past 25 years and has served as chair of the boards of various non-profit organizations such as the Family Place Foundation, Dallas Women’s Foundation, and the Bridge Homeless Recovery Center.
Lynn is a lifelong Texan and she graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Biochemistry.
Matt Tranchin
Matt Tranchin is the President of the Coalition for a New Dallas, a political organization that advocates for public policies that improve the mobility, economic development, and quality of life for Dallas residents.
Matt previously served in the Obama administration as the national service liaison in the White House Office of Public Engagement, where he oversaw outreach to nonprofits, foundations, and social enterprises.
Born and raised in Dallas, he returned five years ago to make a difference in his hometown.
Patrick Kennedy
Patrick Kennedy is the co-founder of the Coalition for a New Dallas. He is a founding partner in the Dallas-based urban design firm, Space Between Design Studio. He is presently on the board of directors for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system and former president of the North Texas Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU-NTX).
With more than 15 years of experience tackling complex urban challenges at local, national, and international scale, his focus is on the interrelationship between movement infrastructure network design and real estate market dynamics in order to deliver successful, lovable, sustainable places.
He has awards from NCTCOG, Greater Dallas Planning Council, APA, AIA, AIGA, and ASLA.
Gillea Allison
Gillea Allison is the Senior Advisor for the Coalition for a New Dallas. She is currently the President at D Magazine Partners, the city magazine of Dallas. She has held roles as a digital strategist, marketing lead, and community builder across political campaigns, private brands, and nonprofit & advocacy organizations.
Before moving back home to Dallas in 2016, she worked for Blue State Digital in New York, an agency and technology company that develops and runs fundraising, membership, and engagement campaigns for clients, ranging from Obama for America, to NAACP and Ford.
In 2012, she ran the Digital Constituency Team for President Obama’s re-election campaign, managing 20 digital programs that were responsible for messaging, mobilizing, and turning out key demographics for the President.
