By Norma Adams Wade
Texas Metro News
https://texasmetronews.com
Two parents are issuing a desperate community call-to-arms after learning that the beloved, long-established Good Street Learning Center in South Dallas/Fair Park is at risk of closing — maybe as soon as January 2026.
The beloved school was founded by the revered and legendary faith leader Dr. Ceasar Arthur Walter Clark, selected repeatedly by Ebony magazine as “one of the 15 greatest preachers in America.”
Rev. Manuel Scott, another noted colleague in Dallas, described the long-time pastor of Good Street Baptist Church, located in Oak Cliff at 3110 Bonnie View Road near Kiest Boulevard, as “the most popular and consistent evangelist in all of Black Christendom.”
The Learning Center, located inside the C. A. W. Clark Community Center at 3126 Elsie Faye Heggins Street (formerly Hatcher Street), amassed a stellar reputation for top-quality education and life training for preschoolers known to go on and excel in regular public and private schools.
Center director Gwendolyn Brown Sneed is proud of the school’s service over the years. She said she stayed on the job for about 24 years, when originally she was asked to stay a few months, illustrates the hypnotic effect of the center and the impact it has had on generations of students and their families.
Parent testimonials
Brooke Thomas, had two children that graduated from the learning center and she is hoping to enroll her third child next year when he is three.
Nasia Peterson, has five children, ages 18 to 10 months. Her husband LaBron Peterson grew up in Good Street Baptist Church and attended the Learning Center. He and his wife decided all their children would do the same.
Thomas’ and Peterson’s testimonies speak highly of the positive impact the learning center had on their children.
“Everyone thought I worked with them so well at home. But I cannot take credit for what Good Street Center did for them ….. writing their name, tying their shoes, how to speak properly and so forth,” said Thomas of her children, adding that the two oldest are thriving now in college and high school.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic stood in the way of her enrolling her third child.
“I could not get him in. Enrollment was limited because of COVID. I told Ms. Sneed, ‘You must take him in. The Center is like family. I know my kids are safe and protected. And you hold them to such high standards.’”
“Eventually Ms. Sneed said, ‘I have a spot for him.’ My kids are the result of the hard work Good Street Learning Center put in. … Their education skills, their Christian learning, their morals, values and etiquette. My kids are doing well, and I owe it all to Good Street Learning Center.”
Thomas and Peterson said they are shocked and disheartened to learn of the Center’s financial plight and the short time left to try to rectify the problem.
“I’m aware that Ms. Sneed is trying to keep the Center open. I just know what Good Street Center has done for me and my kids,” Thomas said. “I just wish the community and even the church knew better what an impact the learning center has made on the community. Whatever I can do to help, I will.”
Peterson was equally distressed: “I was in complete shock when I heard,” said Peterson, who is PTA president at Lincoln Humanities and Communications Magnet High School in South Dallas/Fair Park. “The Center’s biggest benefit to us is the quality of education our children have received. We never have to think twice about whether our kids are learning.”
She continued, “When I learned it might close, right away I wanted to draw up a call-to-action. My husband and I are anticipating enrolling our two-year-old in August of next year. We cannot allow the Center to close. It’s like a family, and we need it.”
As the year draws to a fast-approaching close, Learning Center director Gwendolyn Sneed is fighting frantically to prevent what parents and Center supporters say would be a devastating loss to the community. But the recent economy and social turn-of-events are a real threat, Sneed explained. She recounted the various tasks and efforts she and Center supporters have attempted as ways to fill in the gap of lost finances and resources.
Remembering glory days
Ms. Sneed took the helm in 2001. Her organizing plan was to focus mainly on staff, building environment, supplies, and finances.
“I told the staff my purpose was not to make friends but to bring up the service level in the community and to offer parents competitive service,” Sneed said.
Her second year on the job was the Center’s 50th anniversary. In 2002 the Center received a nearly $1/2 million grant and held a big celebration where Center namesake Dr. Clark came and participated. He died six years later after being pastor for 58 years.
Ms. Sneed reviewed other efforts that involved parents participating in fundraisers, garage sales, acquiring materials and donated furnishings from their employers and businesses. And although the building’s square footage would allow for 100 children per staff, Ms. Sneed said she intentionally kept enrollment at 80 to keep the student-staff ratio at an effective level.
The center began collaborating with other nonprofits to increase access to services. And in 2008 was among the first learning centers to partner with Dallas Independent School District to offer pre-kindergarten in their facility. Some significant grants helped sustain the center, but Ms. Sneed said she sounded the alarm that the grant money, though appealing, would not last forever.
What went wrong?
Good Street Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Eddie L. Jenkins could not be reached for comment. But Jasper Daniels, Learning Center board chairman and a Good Street deacon, said the year 1952 fulfilled a dream of Learning Center founder Dr. Clark. Daniels presides over a five member board comprised mainly of Good Street Church members.
“It was one of the passions of Dr. Clark to provide a school where working parents would have a place to leave their children so they could go to work,” Daniels recalled. “The Center was never established to be self-sufficient. It was always subsidized by the church.”
Over the years, the diminishing national economy hit the Center’s surrounding depressed community hard and the COVID-19 pandemic further depressed the area. When public schools started enrolling three-year-olds, that also put a dent in private early childhood operations. Enrollment at the Center declined at area day care and learning centers when DISD began accepting the students.
“The Center prospered because the church prospered,” Daniels said. “Then, as the national economy slowed, the church came on hard times and everything, including the Center, went into downfall.”
“We have basically grown into deterioration,” Daniels said, describing building issues including problems with piping and roofing. “It is time now to put an infusion of cash into it.
“And as you know, quite a few churches even permanently closed, and several learning centers also did not make it through. Yet, we have been able to limp along.”
Limping apparently will no longer work. Ms. Sneed said she informed a few parents who have worked closely with her that the end of 2025 will bring the demise of the Center – that is, unless a miracle happens, she said.
Solutions and community, church help
Sneed said her wish list would include a more involved board of directors and more funding brought in by the board.
“It has all been the grace of God that has brought us through 2025,” Sneed said. “We are inside a building that bears Dr. Clark’s revered name. It needs to be preserved.”
To inquire further about Good Street Learning Center’s survival efforts, call the center at 214-421-7504.
[–SIDEBAR–]
Call-to-arms for community help
The parents are working toward a plan to call the community, parents, and leaders
together to attempt to offset the threatened closing. The group will soon announce details.
Meanwhile, parent Peterson spoke extensively about various plans that could be implemented to help keep the center open. These included:
- Immediately involve the community in activities to save the Center.
- Establish a parent association.
- Write grants to provide more funding.
- Partner with additional nonprofits, beyond the ones with which the Center already collaborates.
- Devise new arrangements to get help from Good Street Baptist Church where Learning Center founder, the late Dr. C. A. W. Clark, was pastor for 58 years.
- Bridge the gap between senior adults and Millennial parents to execute widespread, effective Center support activities.
- Partner more with the City of Dallas to stay abreast of government funding programs, particularly in the South Dallas/Fair Park community.
- Enhance an online mobile payment system to make it more convenient for parents to pay.
- Enhance the current partnership with Dallas Independent School District. (DISD).
- Get funding for staff that would expand center services to include a before- and after-school component to provide a haven for children of working parents, as well as provide outdoor and indoor spaces for children to enjoy community activities outside school hours.
- Explore the idea that Good Street Learning Center would be a closer location for neighborhood children than the two other recreation centers in that part of town.
- Get funding to offer parent training and board of director skills training.
Norma Adams-Wade is a senior correspondent with Texas Metro News. A founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Norma worked as a reporter/columnist for the Dallas Morning News for nearly 50 years.
