Strategic Plan / The Latest
Community Safety Plan 2.0
Deep Ellum Foundation • Launched 2026
Our latest planning initiative builds on years of community input to strengthen safety, coordination, and the everyday experience of Deep Ellum.
Overview
Everything starts with a plan.
Everything we do starts with a plan. At the Deep Ellum Foundation, we build those plans with the people who know this neighborhood best: our business owners, property owners, residents, and visitors.
Through community conversations, research, and stakeholder input, we identify shared priorities and turn them into actionable goals. Those goals guide our daily work, shape our partnerships, and help us direct resources where they can make the greatest impact.
Our plans build upon one another, providing a foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth while preserving the music, art, culture, and independent spirit that make Deep Ellum unique. As the neighborhood evolves, we continue to listen, assess our progress, and plan for what comes next.
Our Foundation: The 2019–2025 Strategic Plan
To develop the Deep Ellum Public Improvement District Strategic Plan 2019–2025, the Deep Ellum Foundation conducted a yearlong outreach and exploratory process, engaging business owners, property owners, residents, and visitors to understand community concerns, unearth emerging needs, and anticipate future challenges facing the district.
“A yearlong, community-driven process shaped every action item in the plan.”
With both overarching themes and specific action items, the plan served as a roadmap that shaped the Foundation’s priorities, partnerships, and initiatives, supporting Deep Ellum’s continued growth and vitality through 2025.
Explore the Plans
Plans & documents, through the years.
Explore the Foundation’s planning documents in chronological order, from the original district roadmap to our latest safety initiative.
- Read the plan
Deep Ellum Public Improvement District Strategic Plan
The district roadmap developed through a yearlong community outreach process.
- Read the plan
Deep Ellum Cultural Plan
Planning for the arts, culture, and creative identity of Deep Ellum.
- Read the report
Deep Ellum Noise Task Force Report
Community research and recommendations for balancing Deep Ellum’s music and entertainment identity with residents’ quality of life.
- Read the plan
Deep Ellum Public Safety Plan
An earlier chapter in the Foundation’s coordinated public safety work.
- Latest planRead the plan
Deep Ellum Community Safety Plan 2.0
The next chapter in safety planning for the district.
Results
From the plan to progress.
The original Community Safety Plan set out 14 action items. Its two-year status update recorded six accomplished, six in progress, and two with no significant progress.
Community Safety Plan
Two-Year Status Update • 14 Action Items
- Action items accomplished
- 6
- Action items in progress
- 6
- Action items with no significant progress
- 2
Accomplished: 6 action items
- Start the summer safety season early by increasing presence throughout the spring.
- Consistently implement zero tolerance, addressing small infractions.
- Supplement security efforts with Code Compliance and parking enforcement support.
- Address challenges related to people experiencing homelessness.
- Establish a DEPS Command Center to integrate operations, facilitate intelligence sharing, and serve as a storefront for community engagement on safety.
- Advance existing DEF programs for environmental and security infrastructure improvements.
In progress: 6 action items
- Establish a dedicated entertainment district force.
- Prioritize specialized units that make a big impact.
- Focus on visibility with foot patrols and fixed posts at hot spots.
- Use a holistic set of transportation and traffic control tactics to aid area security.
- Plan for youth-specific engagement and targeted intervention, including a youth curfew.
- Expand awareness of and continual community engagement in Deep Ellum’s safety.
No significant progress: 2 action items
- Streamline City policies relating to business operations, including zoning and the Specific Use Permit process, and increase accountability of local business and property owners.
- Leverage robust data analysis to further hone the Deep Ellum Community Safety Plan.
Our Process
Why we plan.
Planning gives the neighborhood a shared direction. It helps us connect everyday needs with long-term goals, make informed choices, and coordinate the people and resources needed to move the work forward.
Community input is central to that process. It helps us recognize emerging needs, understand different experiences, and build priorities rooted in Deep Ellum.
Listen to the neighborhood.
Gather perspectives from business owners, property owners, residents, and visitors through conversations and opportunities to participate.
Identify shared priorities.
Use community input to understand recurring concerns, emerging needs, and opportunities for the district.
Build an actionable plan.
Work with the Strategic Plan Task Force and Board of Directors to refine that input into goals and action items.
Review and refine.
Use progress and changing neighborhood needs to inform the next phase of work.
Past outreach has included roundtables and workshops, public chalk walls, online surveys and social media, individual interviews, community mapping, and focus groups.
Thank You
Shaped by the people who care about Deep Ellum.
Thank you to the stakeholders who contribute their time, ideas, and experience to this work.
Our planning brings together people with different perspectives and a shared investment in Deep Ellum’s future. Your participation helps shape the Foundation’s priorities and strengthens the partnerships that turn plans into action.
We look forward to continuing to listen, learn, and build with this community.