Melissa Pierce Project Inc

The Melissa Pierce Project, Inc. (MPP)

• Mission & Focus: The MPP is committed to cultivating community and honoring history through education, arts, and recreation within the Joppa-Joppee neighborhood; one of Dallas’s most intact Freedmen’s settlements, founded by emancipated slaves in 1872.

• Project Vision: MPP is transforming the historic Melissa Pierce School, a once segregated school active in the 1950s–60s, into the community’s first multipurpose center. This locally owned and operated facility will offer expressive, educational, and supportive services tailored to multigenerational residents.

• Progress & Support:

  • Completed initial project planning and timeline development

  • Finalized project goals, objectives, and deliverables

  • Awarded a City of Dallas Brownfield environmental assessment grant in 2021.

  • Partnered with HKS Architects in 2022 to design the center.

  • In 2023, they successfully funded cleanup, demolition, and preparatory effort

  • Secured partial funding through grants/donations

  • Launched Phase 1 with successful milestone completion

  • In 2025 contracted Strategic Funding Group for funding strategy support and to lead fundraising efforts

  • Strong volunteer participation and growing interest

  • Ongoing collaboration with local partners and organizations                                                                                      (City of Dallas, University of Texas at Arlington-CAPPA, HKS Architects, Texas Trees Foundation)

  •  Positive media or public attention helping to build momentum

  • Pursuing additional funding opportunities (grants, sponsorships, donors)