In January 2019, graphic designer Natalia Padilla was awarded her first artistic grant by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs to provide her services as a teacher and to create an invaluable product for the city. This is how Dsgn For Us was born.
Every year, Dallas gets an average of 700 immigrants and much of this population lives in the Vickery Meadow neighborhood, making it one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the city. Unfortunately, Vickery Meadow is an underserved neighborhood that has 7,500 children living in low-income households.
In 2007, the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation was founded to provide educational and enrichment programs for children, from birth all the way through higher education. One of these is the Eagle Scholar Program, a college-readiness program that prepares 7th-12th-grade students to be the first in their families to go to college. By partnering with this program, Dsgn For Us will open new opportunities for low-income students through graphic design.
Dsgn For Us has two main goals, one goal is to teach a design class in Summer 2019 to eleven migrant scholars who have been hand-picked for the Eagle Scholar Program at the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation. The second goal is to create with these scholars a beautifully designed guidebook for migrants, full of resources to help them flourish in the city of Dallas. And during the summer of 2019, that design class created LOCAL, a bilingual coloring guidebook full of resources for Dallas immigrants. Illustrated by the students, with creative direction from Padilla. Not only will Dsgn For Us serve the immigrant community, it will also intellectually and emotionally prepare high-achieving students to become the first in their families to attend college and become valuable members of society. We believe the greatest hope for ending poverty is through education. LOCAL helps to provide long term solutions that help all the communities within Dallas get the information they need.
If you are interested in donating, you can donate at https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/dsgn-for-us Your donation would go towards Translating the book “LOCAL” in Spanish. Printing and donating 1,000 copies to 10 non-profits that help Dallas immigrants. And website maintenance which would allow Dallas residents to download the book for FREE at home.
Vist "Dsgn For Us" at: https://www.dsgnforus.com/
Interviewee
Natalia Padilla for "Dsgn For Us" @dsgnforus
Director
Nate Bishara @Naturallynatey
Interviewer
Giuliana Vargas @gv.fotos
Cinematographer
Pedro Rocha @pedrolikestoparty
Supplementary B-Roll
Francisco Santillan “NO SOCIAL” @nosocial__