Sharon Grigsby

Senior writer & co-founder of The Lab Report, an independent nonprofit newsroom powered by CPAL. Formerly, longtime @dallasnews reporter, editor.

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

BREAKING: The company in charge of CPS cases in Dallas has been ousted. Now what? https://t.co/ZvxXLeYalS

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

It's official: A Starbucks will be the next-door neighbor of the restored Forest Theater in South Dallas. My latest story for The Lab Report looks at why Forest Forward decided this was the right call for the project—and its neighbors. https://t.co/YnT7NGq2kz

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

My colleague @kellixsmith dug deep into Dallas crime data for this report. There you'll also find a link to sign up and receive more stories like this one. And thanks to everyone who has already become a subscriber and/or offered feedback to our newsroom.

[Kelli Smith @kellixsmith]

Headlines in the last month portray the city of Dallas in chaos. We've had killings outside an ICE facility, a nightclub, a shopping center, a beheading at a motel.

A story not being told is Dallas is on pace for one of its lowest murder tallies in a decade. @labreportdallas

[Eva-Marie Ayala @EvaMarieAyala]

So incredibly proud of this amazing woman who always has kids at the heart of any story. A natural leader with smarts and organizational skills that border on magic. Welcome back to the ed beat📚 #tellEWA

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

With the fight over healthcare shutting down the federal government today, The Lab Report's @kellixsmith looks beyond the political bickering and digs into the real-life implications across North Texas, especially within @Parkland Health. https://t.co/J2eAvUry1E

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

ICYMI: While the dominant public safety conversation in Dallas was about adding more cops, violent crime fell 48% across 150 sites in just six months. Police officers had very little to do with it. From @labreportdallas @kellixsmith
https://t.co/NgarWcmxQ9

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

Multifamily development plans in Dallas regularly set off firestorms of protesting neighbors who know they hold the power to delay, or even kill, any project. Beginning Monday, a new state law wiped out that influence. From @labreportdallas @goodmoine https://t.co/vwHQRbLzOH

[Barrett Linburg @DallasAptGP]

I’ve been burned before when interviews turn a quote or data into clickbait

I spent hours with Matt Goodman and he did the opposite

He dug into our Bishop Ridge work and the PFC tool we use, then told the story straight

Care about real solutions on housing? Read his article

[Matt Goodman @goodmoine]

Come for the arson, stay to better understand subsidizing affordable housing in Dallas. https://t.co/XCXm9RM1Lx

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

@TaliRichman @jbenton @dallasnews I will miss your excellent reporting and narrative story-telling, @TaliRichman … I learned so much from working alongside you. Best of luck!

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the never-ending string of barriers to neighborhood transformation. The story of Pastors Chris Simmons and Gerald Davis shows how much impact just one or two people can have.
https://t.co/Kq4TcTxlPU

[Matt Goodman @goodmoine]

The Lab Report is an editorially independent division of the nonprofit Child Poverty Action Lab, which does critical work to help Dallas curb childhood poverty and make the region better for families. Our publisher, Alan Cohen, introduced the idea here. https://t.co/kgy0257tTv

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

No exaggeration—this is exactly what it took to get to today. I hope you all subscribe!

[Matt Goodman @goodmoine]

🧵Fourish months ago, @SharonFGrigsby and I holed up in essentially a glass-doored closet and talked at each other until we could see the shape of a new publication. The Lab Report has a ways to go—website (the design rips), social accounts (yikes)—but we’re now running stories.

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

Amid the million things @goodmoine is orchestrating to get The Lab Report's website launched this fall (the design is SO good!) he's still making time to do kick-ass journalism.

[Kelli Smith @kellixsmith]

Matt dove into Dallas' deflection center, an initiative championed by @judgecreuzot to connect nonviolent criminal trespass offenders with services. It's meant to break the cycle keeping those people jailed.

The problem: Cops aren't bringing them there. https://t.co/YHflUTV7X9

[Kelli Smith @kellixsmith]

Sharon spent 6 months with North Texas nonprofits navigating uncertainty amid federal cuts, layoffs, and delayed reimbursements.

The effect is already being felt in the form of 33 million fewer meals, reduced stipends, fewer kids at summer camp, and more: https://t.co/uPRTzT6yEt

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

My Lab Report colleague @kellixsmith highlights in this thread the journalism we've begun to produce. I hope you'll sign up so you're among the first to see our exception—and free—work.

[Kelli Smith @kellixsmith]

🧵Our first stories are out at The Lab Report Dallas!

Leading up to our website launch, we're publishing a new piece every Wednesday to offer a look at the solutions-based journalism you can expect from us.

These first two by @SharonFGrigsby and @goodmoine are must-reads. 👇

[Lynn McBee @LMcBee4Dallas]

Thank you to Elizabeth Wattley, @melliskirk, and @SharonFGrigsby for joining us at the Dallas Breakfast Group for a powerful, important—if sometimes challenging—conversation about bridging the divides that persist in our community.

@ForestForward is doing more than restoring a historic theater. They are leading one of the most ambitious and thoughtful neighborhood revitalization efforts in North Texas—reimagining South Dallas through the lens of equity, culture, and community investment. Their work includes restoring the iconic Forest Theater as a cultural anchor; but it’s also about creating a future—for the children, for the community, and for the culture.

The restored Forest Theater will feature immersive learning spaces like a studio theater equipped for animation and CGI, a recording and podcast studio, and a sensory immersion room—all designed to open doors for young people and cultivate creative opportunity. In partnership with Dallas ISD, they’ve transformed the Dr. Martin Luther King Center into the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Arts Academy, filling a gap in access to arts education to neighborhood students from Pre-K through 8th grade.

Their housing vision is equally thoughtful: a commitment to mixed-income housing development that preserves affordability, avoids displacement, and builds community from within. And when the Forest Theater lights come back on, they’ll illuminate not just a stage, but a beacon of cultural identity and artistic expression.

This is what it looks like when revitalization is rooted in respect, driven by partnership, and led by the people it’s meant to serve.

Grateful for all of the community and corporate partners helping to make it happen!

[Matt Goodman @goodmoine]

We're building a newsroom here in Dallas where compelling, local enterprise journalism is foundational. I'm so pumped to announce Kelli—one of our city's very best reporters—is going to be a part of it. Sign up here, it's coming later this summer: https://t.co/sJjKZzrwud

[Kelli Smith @kellixsmith]

🧵 Life news!: I’m leaving @dallasnews after 4.5 great years, but I’m not going far.

I’m thrilled to announce I’m joining @SharonFGrigsby and @goodmoine at The Lab Report Dallas, an independent newsroom powered by the Child Poverty Action Lab. https://t.co/Vxlt79JNz4

[Sharon Grigsby @SharonFGrigsby]

.@goodmoine's post also provides more details about what we are up to with soon-to-launch The Lab Report: Dallas, independent journalism powered by the Child Poverty Action Lab.

[Matt Goodman @goodmoine]

So. After 11 years, I'm leaving @DMagazine to start something new with @SharonFGrigsby. Here are some parting words on Dallas and what's next. Let's go. https://t.co/4trFzzrCXA