DeDe Alexander challenges expectations, systemic problems in race for Dallas City Council

By David Wilfong, NDG Contributing Writer The last round of elections was noted for bringing out new faces ready to enter the realm of politics. Notably, women and people of color filling the ranks of the Democratic side of the ticket, many with an energized zeal of a new, “progressive” wing; challenging not only Republicans but the status quo in their own party. Dallas is ramping up for another round of city council elections, and while city offices are non-partisan, the new progressive wave is still making its presence known. DeDe Alexander is a part of this wave, running to take the seat on the Dallas City Council in District 10. She caught the attention of those now supporting her through working on the campaign of others in recent elections, as well as pushing to encourage voter registration. Through her political volunteerism, she saw Colin Allred elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a district (TX-32) he was not supposed to be able to win. “I thought, ‘Maybe his isn’t crazy’,” Alexander recalled, and she then committed to making a run for the city council herself. “I’m running because I think I can bring a new perspective. Things are disjointed in our system in Dallas. Folks tend to work in their silos, and I want to bring continuity of services to all parts of Dallas.” Alexander grew up in the DFW metroplex, graduating from Plano schools before heading off to Washington University in St. Louis. After graduation, she spent a year with the Americorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) program, working with Habitat for Humanity. She currently works for the county in the area of mental health services as a licensed professional counselor. Specifically, she works with young people who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. The time she has spent in the trenches of what is often the less idyllic side of the city serves as the primary driver of her commitment to change. “As you can imagine, you hear all sorts of things when you work with incarcerated children,” Alexander said. “Dallas is a city with tons of childhood poverty. People are scared to talk about it because it brings up an ugly part of our history.” Mental health, homelessness, affordable housing, and infrastructure are the key components of her platform. She believes the work she is currently doing for the county is valuable but said she wants to be able to do more to address the underlying systemic problems which contribute to the flow of young people into the system where she currently works. But Alexander is heading toward the horseshoe at a time when the city is facing financial issues, and a police department struggling both to maintain enough officers and overcome recent negative incidents with minorities. “The people who are bad apples must be dealt with,” Alexander said. “At the same time, the police department needs our support. Ultimately we have to restore the trust between the police and the community. I think community policing is a must, and we need to keep our officers from having to go outside their realm of duty, such as mental health.” And as an example of how issues end up being tied together, Alexander points out that the current approach to mental health problems in the city cost the taxpayers up to $300 per day in hospital expenses. She has spent time as a board member of a non-profit where part of her responsibility was looking at the budget, both in terms of accountability and efficiency. Finally, she has budgetary qualifications not often touted by political candidates. “I am low income myself,” Alexander said. “I bought my first house at 26 through a program designed for low-income homebuyers. People who don’t have a lot of money learn to monitor money very well.” Alexander has already gotten out and started beating the streets on the campaign trail. She will be hosting a meet-and-greet on Saturday, Feb.2 at Shady’s Burgers (9661 Audelia Rd. in Dallas) at 1 p.m.