When Maria Maldonado first brought her family to Bachman Lake Together, she was looking for help for one of her children.
Her family spent about two years at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, isolated from other people. Maldonado wanted her children to reconnect with other kids and find opportunities to learn.
What she found at the Bachman Lake Together Family Center soon extended beyond early-learning programming. Maldonado became a parent leader. Her daughter, Sophia Portillo, attended Girl Scout meetings and other programs, and later helped families navigate Dallas ISD enrollment.
“The community center is like my second house, my second family, because that’s how they make you feel,” Maldonado said.
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Maldonado’s experience is part of what Bachman Lake Together is celebrating as the Family Center marks 10 years of serving families in the Bachman Lake neighborhood.
Bachman Lake Together initially formed as an initiative in 2009 and was officially named Bachman Lake Together in 2014. Its Bachman Lake Together Family Center opened in 2016 after funders and community organizations identified a shortage of high-quality early-learning opportunities in the Bachman Lake area, a heavily immigrant and Latino neighborhood near Webb Chapel Road in northwest Dallas.
The center was designed to bring families and organizations together under one roof, with early learning as the starting point and parent leadership as a central part of the work. Over the past decade, high-quality early-learning opportunities in the Bachman Lake neighborhood have grown from about 100 in 2016 to 980, according to Bachman Lake Together’s 2025-26 impact report.
The organization reports 2,305 students in Bachman Lake have been prepared for kindergarten over the past decade, citing data from The Commit Partnership.
Preschool teacher Orfelina Bastardo says goodbye to student Sabrina and her mother, Doris Chavez, at Bachman Lake Together Family Center in Dallas on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
The report also says more than 3,479 children and families have been welcomed at the Family Center since it opened. More than 75 partners have coordinated with the organization over the past decade to provide services involving education, physical and mental health, technology and other community needs, according to the report.
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“Lasting change has to be built with the community, not just for the community,” said Ana Lorena Carrasco, executive director of AVANCE North Texas.
AVANCE North Texas provides early childhood and parenting education programming for children and adults and has worked with Bachman Lake Together since the beginning. Its early childhood programming is paired with Bachman Lake Together’s parent-leadership work.
The center also connects families with trusted people who can help them understand enrollment, school options and the resources available to them, Carrasco said, to ensure parents are not navigating systems on their own.
Carrasco credited Olga Martinez Hickman, Bachman Lake Together’s executive director, for helping create a space where organizations can work together while keeping families’ voices at the center. Martinez Hickman said that focus has shaped the center’s evolution.
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Parents write on sticky notes and place them on a chart during a class exercise where they identify who makes decisions about their child’s food, homework, and bilingual education at school at Bachman Lake Together Family Center in Dallas on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
Families still face barriers as the center looks ahead
Bachman Lake Together began with a focus on kindergarten readiness, but the organization later expanded its work after families said they needed help beyond the early years, including school navigation, technology and mental health resources.
Martinez Hickman said the organization’s partners now help families with pre-K registration, school information and resources, technology and mental-health services. A computer lab, a resource Bachman Lake Together provides in partnership with the Dallas Innovation Alliance, offers workshops and practical assistance, including help with resumes and applications for public benefits.
The organization’s Community Action Network, a parent-leadership program, has graduated more than 180 parents since 2017, according to the impact report.
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Related: Two generations get educated in Bachman Lake program aimed at Spanish-speaking families
Through that program, parent leaders have shifted from participants to leaders, helping connect neighbors with resources, co-lead and shape programming, and advise partner organizations about what families in Bachman Lake need.
Denisse Gutierrez first began building relationships at the Bachman Lake Together Family Center through partner programs more than a decade ago. That experience later led to her involvement in the Community Action Network, where she continued building connections in the community.
She used what she learned to advocate for her children’s education and later took on leadership roles connected to Bachman Lake Together and other community initiatives.
“I have kids that might need me to speak up because they’re young, they’re still learning, and I am the person in charge of them having all the opportunities possible,” Gutierrez said. “If I’m not ready for that, all of those opportunities will be missed.”
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Daniela Cifuentes, from left, and Monica Paredes listen to parent leadership manager Maria Reza, right, teach a class on how to advocate for community projects at Bachman Lake Together Family Center in Dallas.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
The need for support has become more urgent as families face political pressure, language barriers and economic uncertainty. Gutierrez said some families are afraid to seek help because of immigration concerns.
“A lot of people are scared to go out,” she said. “I personally keep going to BLT because if I just stay home, I’ll never learn about what’s going on in my community and in the end that will negatively impact my kids’ future.”
Martinez Hickman called fear one of the biggest barriers facing families. She said parents may worry about leaving their homes, going to school meetings, using public transportation or seeking services. Language also adds another layer when information is available only in English, she said.
The center’s role, Martinez Hickman said, is to create a place where families feel heard and where partners respond to what families say they need.
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“We look like the people that we serve,” Martinez Hickman said. “The parents feel safe talking to us, but we also really try hard to create a safe environment, and that includes listening.”
“I have moms that I swap clothes with,” she continued. “They give me clothes for my little nephew, and I give them my daughter’s clothes for their daughters. It’s part of who we are. It’s in our DNA. That’s who we are as Latinos.”
Maldonado said that feeling has helped her family and other parents become more confident. She participated in programs that explained Dallas ISD enrollment and school choices, then shared what she learned with other families.
Maldonado’s daughter, Portillo, said her experience there influenced her decision to become a teacher. Portillo is a freshman at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she is studying to become an educator.
“I want to help people, and I find the best way to help people is to be a teacher,” Portillo said.
Parent leadership manager Maria Reza teaches parents how to find their voice, identity and advocate for community projects at Bachman Lake Together Family Center in Dallas on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.
Angela Piazza/The Dallas Morning News
What’s next for the northwest Dallas nonprofit
The next phase of Bachman Lake Together’s work will require the same combination of investment, partnership and family leadership, Carrasco said.
More early-learning opportunities are important, but families also need information in their own languages, programs that fit their schedules and opportunities for adults to pursue education and economic mobility.
Martinez Hickman envisions a larger “Bachman Lake Together Village” as a welcoming community hub where families can access resources, build connections, find opportunities and gather in one place. A larger, more permanent space could bring together everything from health and legal services to education, family supports and recreation.
“The community deserves a space that’s inclusive of what they don’t currently have,” Martinez Hickman said.
Maldonado said the center’s continued focus matters. Families may arrive looking for help with one child, one form or one school decision. But the relationships they build can affect an entire household and, over time, the wider neighborhood.
“When you come there with a problem or something, they don’t say no,” Maldonado said. “They try to find help for you.”
Bachman Lake Together will hold its 10th anniversary community celebration from noon to 3 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Family Center, 9507 Overlake Drive in Dallas. The event is open to the public, but guests must RSVP in advance through the organization’s 10-year anniversary webpage.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.