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We couldn't walk down our streets for the parked cars. People would [drive here and] just buy and sell drugs in front of us," says Jackie Mixon.

Innocent people were being harassed; homes were robbed. Seniors were even afraid to sit outside on their porches. That was Mixon's south Dallas neighborhood 13 years ago.

In 1988, Mixon, 46, and neighbor Evelyn Van Zandt had had enough of the drug dealers. So, they organized a crime watch, blocked the streets to hold take-back-our-neighborhood rallies, and started working with their city council member to find a solution. By 1989, they'd registered their Ideal Neighborhood Association with the city of Dallas.

Soon they began receiving threats from dealers against their families and homes. Mixon says she had to stay in a hotel some nights for fear her home would be bombed. When she and fellow neighbors patrolled the streets at night, they had to rent cars because dealers recognized their vehicles. Van Zandt's husband eventually convinced her to step back from leadership, Mixon says.

But Mixon, who attends True Love Missionary Baptist Church, didn't give up. "We just fought and fought and fought and drove them (drug dealers) out," she says. "We were very consistent. That's the key word."

The citizen patrols, rallies, and prayer eventually paid off. Today the community is no longer infested with addicts and pushers, thanks to the Ideal Neighborhood Association (Mixon is the president) and its nonprofit, grassroots development organization, T. R. Hoover Community Development Corporation, that provides housing, economic development, and community services.

Though things are much better, the battle's not over. But Mixon is encouraged that more local churches are becoming involved, as evidenced with a one-hour prayer walk and rally in March 2001.

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