Momentum Builds for a Much Needed Mental and Primary Health Clinic in Southern Dallas

Dallas City Council member Adam McGough is right: If you need mental health help north of Interstate 30, take your pick of quality resources. If you live in the southern half of the city, your best bet is to get arrested.That's why council members' support Monday of a plan to build a multimillion-dollar clinic in southern Dallas is so significant. The proposed facility, located near a DART station and adjacent to the University of North Texas at Dallas, would provide access both to primary care and mental health services.The scarcity of mental health resources in southern Dallas — whether for the indigent or the insured — is among the city's most pernicious inequities. People who can't get this kind of help are more likely to wind up on a police report, drop out of school, endure poverty or even become homeless.The private coalition pushing for the clinic needs City Hall's help — most immediately, the group wants four acres of land that Dallas owns at Camp Wisdom and Lancaster roads near a DART station. The Education Corridor Integrated Health Clinic group expects to raise private dollars, along with securing new-market tax credits, to fund the project.  Continue reading...