On Tuesday, August 26, 2025, and Wednesday, August 27, 2025, City of Dallas staff members hosted the first two of five “Federal Compliance Community Engagement” meetings at the Latino Cultural Center and the J. Erik Jonsson Central Branch of the Dallas Public Library. Focused respectively on “Arts Funding” and a “Citywide Focus,” these meetings followed an August 11th outcry from community advocates, faith leaders and former elected officials at Dallas City Hall over the decision by resolution of the Dallas City Council, which directed City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to pause all City of Dallas Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) related efforts.
On his first day in office this year, President Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling government DEI programs and offices, ending affirmative action plans for federal contractors, and discouraging DEI programs in the private sector. Municipalities are not required to terminate programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion under Trump’s executive orders; however, President Trump and his administration have threatened to remove federal funding from cities that continue their efforts to promote racial and gender equity. According to a February 5 Dallas City Council Briefing, “Over the last 3 years, Dallas has realized average annual grants from the federal government of $305.2 million.” The Dallas City Council and City Manager Tolbert do not believe that The City of Dallas can afford to lose that funding. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is in lock step with State of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is actively working to gerrymander congressional maps racially. What do the citizens of Dallas think?
City of Dallas staff members hosted the first two of five “Federal Compliance Community Engagement” meetings on August 26–27, 2025, at the Latino Cultural Center and the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. The sessions, focused on “Arts Funding” and “Citywide Focus,” came in response to community pushback following the Dallas City Council’s August 11 resolution directing City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to pause all DEI-related efforts. Photo by Jerry L. Hawkins.
The 8.2 million residents of Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex make it the third-fastest growing region in the country and the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, following New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. All of the aforementioned municipalities, mayors, and their governors are in open rebellion and protest against the federal government’s executive orders and policies – except for Dallas. From 2014 to 2024, Dallas may have become the most equitable city in the Southern United States, with equity offices at the city, county, and school district levels, as well as racial equity plans with millions of dollars budgeted at both the city and school district levels. As the City of Dallas moves to comply with presidential executive orders (and some state laws) that threaten to dismantle much of the progress made, how will community members respond?
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Tuesday’s “Federal Compliance Community Engagement” meeting on arts funding in the Latino Cultural Center’s black box theatre featured an at-capacity, standing room only crowd of more than 100 community members. Featuring presentations by City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) Assistant Director Glenn Ayars, Assistant Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion for Welcoming Communities and Immigrant Affairs Christina da Silva, Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira and a closing by OAC Director Martine Elyse Philippe, city staff shared updates on arts funding and their mandate by City Council to be “federally complaint” and “legally resilient.” Assistant Director Glenn Ayars shared that while some program funding is delayed (such as Culture of Value 2025, Community Artist Program (CAP), Cultural Organization Program (COP), and ArtsActivate 2025-2026) as expressed in a city email to participating artists and organizations, “OAC is not cutting our funding for artistic and cultural services in the coming year.”
OAC could not provide a timeline on the funding delay, but OAC Director Martine Elyse Philippe did provide a City of Dallas Federal Grant Compliance Timeline that ends at the September 2025 Dallas City Council Briefing.
Community members, however, were not so optimistic. Attendees raised questions about the 2018 Dallas Cultural Plan, which was developed with input from thousands of residents and adopted unanimously by the Dallas City Council. They inquired about how the years of partnership and effort will be honored if the city moves forward from the work. I asked specifically,
“What are the City of Dallas’ values? When will anyone from the city share them, and how much and how far is the city willing to comply with the federal government in order to receive federal funds?”
During Wednesday’s meeting at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Branch of the Dallas Public Library, community members expressed even more frustration. Attended by approximately 30 Dallas residents, and with presentations by Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira, Director, Office of Community Care & Empowerment Jessica Galleshaw, and Director, Office of Procurement Services Juanita Ortiz, city staff gave overviews about the President’s executive orders, Dallas City Council Resolution to federally comply, an update on compliance work, and collected feedback from attendees.
Tamitha Curiel, Place 5 Arts and Culture Advisory Commissioner, asked city staff, “Where is the line?” while Edward Davis, a District 2 homeowner in The Cedars, interjected, “It feels like obligatory compliance!” Davis continued, “As a resident of Dallas, it does not feel that Dallas is standing up for us. I am looking for the voice of my mayor, and I am not hearing it.”
City of Dallas staff members hosted the first two of five “Federal Compliance Community Engagement” meetings on August 26–27, 2025, at the Latino Cultural Center and the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. The sessions, focused on “Arts Funding” and “Citywide Focus,” came in response to community pushback following the Dallas City Council’s August 11 resolution directing City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to pause all DEI-related efforts. Photo by Jerry L. Hawkins.
Dave Chaos, host of KNON 89.3’s Thursday Blend, stated that the radio station, known as “The Voice of the People,” has the word diversity in its mission statement and is not removing it. Blue Lisa, a KNON 89.3 FM Radio Station Board member and volunteer DJ, shared that she “lived in Dallas her whole life,” and that she has seen it become “a better and more diverse” city. She stated that “what is going on in Washington, D.C. is not right, and we all know it. Organizations already suffering from COVID can not wait (for funding delays) and will close without support. What can we do to get more support from you?
In response, Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira stated, “One in four Dallas residents come from another country. 25% of the city was not born here. There is a moral issue.” She measuredly stated that she and her staff are “reading (the executive orders) for what it says” and “not being overbroad” in their approach.
Another unidentified community member asked, “What is our motivation to comply with the Federal Government, who is also in debt? ‘There should have been one question on the survey. Should we comply? Yes or No.”
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The representative government form of democracy is a fairly new concept in Dallas. The current system of government in Dallas, the 14-1 Council-Manager system, has only been in place for 34 years. Roy Williams and Marvin Crenshaw, along with their attorneys, Betsy Julian and Mike Daniel, filed a lawsuit in 1988. In 1991, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer ordered new elections after striking down the 8-3 system. Judge Buchmeyer stated that Black and Latino participation in Dallas politics had been a question of “what Blacks and Hispanics have been permitted to do by the white majority.” In a city that has been labeled as having “the worst voters in the entire country,” will history repeat itself, or will city residents in a new democracy assert their rights and responsibilities?
The city is inviting participation in its Federal Compliance survey, which can be accessed here. The survey will be closed on Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 11:59pm: https://dallasengage.com/communitysessions
Register for the remaining City of Dallas Federal Compliance Community Engagement sessions here. The next meeting is Thursday, September 4, at 6:00 pm: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/federal-compliance-community-engagement-session-4561283
Let us know what you think in the comments, attend the rest of the city meetings, and let your voices be heard!
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