The Dallas Mavericks and the team’s new owner, Sands Corp., have given a boost to a local nonprofit that has been serving Dallas for a decade.
For Oak Cliff operates a community center in South Oak Cliff that focuses on advocacy, education, community building, and the arts. It offers programs for youths and adults, including after-school care, GED classes, food services, and more.
According to its website, the organization’s mission is “to liberate Oak Cliff from systemic oppression through a culture of education while increasing social mobility and social capital.”
On Wednesday, the Mavericks’ CEO Cynt Marshall and the Las Vegas Sands COO Patrick Dumont toured the facility along with For Oak Cliff co-founder and CEO Taylor Toynes. Afterward, the visiting executives surprised Toynes with two giant-sized cardboard checks, each for $50,000.
“Things that are important to the community are important to us,” Marshall said in reference to the Mavericks, per NBC 5 DFW. “We are a part of the community.”
Dumont was impressed with the services the nonprofit is providing to the local community.
“This is a fantastic program. I would encourage everyone to look at it and try to contribute in the way they can, either through their time or resources, to try to advance what’s happening here,” Dumont said, NBC 5 reported.
Toynes expressed gratitude for the sizable donation, adding that it would be used for student education programs.
“Every child that comes into our building is going to get academic enrichment every day; they’ll have a 45-minute academic enrichment session with our partner Beacon Hill, amongst other things, with the software we have on our computers,” Toynes said.
The donation was certainly a bright spot for the community in the wake of a recent tragedy on the grounds of the center. Dallas police officer Darron Burks was shot in the parking lot of the facility last month while sitting in his patrol car.
The shooting shook the members of the organization to the core, Toynes told NBC 5. Evening programs at the center were temporarily suspended while leaders took stock of the situation and enhanced security measures onsite. Evening activities at the center are scheduled to resume on September 30.
Toynes told NBC 5 that he had heard many stories about Burks’ personality and contributions to the community.
“Officer Burks embodies all the things that we would want to see members of For Oak Cliff have,” Toynes said, per NBC 5, and that is why the work at the community center must continue, he added.