STAY IN THE LOOP

The 2025 Heritage Oak Cliff Fall Home Tour is just around the corner, and we can't wait for you to tour our seven amazing homes and two bonus properties. This year's houses are in Kessler Park, East Kessler, Kessler Plaza, Kiestwood Estates, Kings Highway, Stevens Park Village and Lake Cliff, and each and every one is – as we said – AMAZING!

The Fall Home Tour is a vital event for our city. Funds raised support Oak Cliff neighborhoods through grants for neighborhood beautification, restoration, improvements, events and more. Over 800 people took the tour last year, raising over $50,000, and we expect even more this year.

As always, HOC members get a discount by purchasing tickets in advance. There's also a special Patron ticket which includes the tour (both days) and admission to the October 23 Patron Party at an East Kessler home.

Ticket Prices (not including small processing fees):

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

North Texas Giving Day is coming up fast – Thursday, September 18th – so there's not much time left for you to give to our 2025 campaign.

Why do we keep asking you to give your NTGD dollars to Heritage Oak Cliff? So we can keep giving back. Your donations help Oak Cliff neighborhoods improve, beatify, preserve and develop – like when we helped fund West Kessler's Green Bag Project shown above. Plus, thanks to matching funds of up to $2,500 from our generous sponsor, State Farm Agent Ray Scott (thank you, Ray!), your donations can double.

But wait, there's more:

You're invited to our Giving Day/Anniversary Celebration!

We'll be hosting a big celebration to thank our donors and celebrate HOC's 50 years of preserving, enhancing and enriching our community. Donors will enjoy a complimentary beverage. And if you haven't yet donated, you'll be able to do so at the event (and get your complimentary beverage).

Just click below to go to our page on the North Texas Giving Day website and donate $50 or more – in honor of our 50th anniversary – or, whatever you can. And feel free to forward this email to friends, neighbors and family so they can help, too.

Thank you for making our (giving) day!

The Hampton-Illinois Branch Library is inviting Oak Cliff residents and friends to honor Hispanic Heritage month by joining them for their first Hispanic Heritage Festival/Honrando La Herencia Hispana. This October 4th event will include live music and performances by the Folklorico dancers and the Jimmie Tyler Brashear Elementary School Choir, as well as games, crafts and activities for the whole family. Check out their flyers here (both English and Spanish).

The June 26 HOC Grant Awards Celebration was packed with happy grant recipients, great food and drink, interesting conversation and a ton of fun. Besides all the grant winners, one of the stars of the evening was the incredible venue – Dallas Housing Authority at 3939 N Hampton Rd. Much thanks to Troy Boussard, Dallas Housing Authority CEO, and Kathy Phongsavath, Director Strategic Development and Training, for giving us special permission to hold our event in this unique space. Thanks, also, to those who coordinated the whole thing.

Some of the numbers: 30 people attended, 11 neighborhoods received grants, 31 grant projects were approved and $31,556.31 was awarded. No wonder everyone had such a good time! To view the PowerPoint from the event, including all the grant recipients, click here.

Want to see more photos? Click here to see them all, courtesy of 2nd2Nunn Photography.

If you're a recipient and your project has been completed, download the Grant Reimbursement Form here.

Welcome to the first of our monthly(ish) feature spotlighting one of our member neighborhoods. Today, we focus on Elmwood, fresh from celebrating its 100th birthday. 

Elmwood is situated in the center of Oak Cliff. Originally the old Tennessee Dairy Farm, this neighborhood is now 1,500 Tudor homes and cottages, a downtown district with pizza and coffee shops, and a 16-acre greenbelt dedicated in 1945 as a City of Dallas linear park. More than that, Elmwood is a tight-knit community that hosts a variety of events that support local businesses and create more opportunities for neighbors to just hang out together.

HOC Neighborhood Rep Elizabeth Mellott was able to experience Elmwood in a unique way. After living there for 10 years, she moved away for 5, but, "didn't know a single neighbor and moved right back." To Elizabeth, a few key advantages of living in this neighborhood are the green space (creeks and parks), the growing downtown area and Oak Cliff Brewery at Tyler Station. She's also proud of all the events, including Music in the Meadow in the spring and cookie decorationg and the cake walk in the fall. And she had to point out that Elmwood had the first dog park in Oak Cliff (thanks to partial funding by HOC).

She also loves Elmwood Farm, especially now that it has moved to a better space. They sell local eggs, offer produce in season and have their own events, like Music Passing Through.

For more on the history of this neighborhood, check out the Elmwood page on this website. For more on its 100th birthday, look at this article in the Advocate.

The 2024 Heritage Oak Cliff Holiday Celebration held on December 5th was simply AWESOME! 47 people really enjoyed the evening; hopefully, you were one of them. The food was fabulous; everyone raved about how delicious it was. The raffle prizes were over the top, including two tickets and a parking pass to the Byron Nelson Golf Tournament (donated by Brad Perry of Schwab) and a $619 Platinum Pass to Snap Clean Car Wash (donated by City Councilman Chad West). $730 was raised just from additional ticket sales for the raffle. One company, Creative Planning, didn’t have anything for the raffle, so they donated $1,000 to HOC (thank you to Ed Brownstein and Christy Watson)!

The Oak Cliff Assembly space was as tasty as the food – great layout and beautiful decorations. Thank you AJ Rambler and Proxy Property for allowing HOC to use the venue.

During the event, the following special people were recognized: 1.) Ryan Stepp received the 2024 Neighborhood Champion award for his outstanding work on the super successful 2024 Home Tour. 2.) Cynthia Michaels received the Executive Board Champion award for her willingness to go go the extra mile leading events and managing the grant program. And 3.) AJ Rambler and Proxy Property received the 2024 Ruth Chenoweth award for their significant role in the restoration of properties in Oak Cliff.

If you’d like to see more photos from our year-end celebration, check out the photo album here (photos by 2nd2Nunn Photography).

All of us at HOC thank all of you for giving us a year worth celebrating. What amazing things will we do together in 2025?

What a success!!

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for the Fall Home Tour and a big thank you to all of our amazing homeowners who opened their doors to us and all of the wonderful house sponsors, advertisers, and partners of the event! The proceeds from the tour have been distributed in the form of grants to help neighborhoods across Oak Cliff!