The Dallas Jewish Community Foundation (DJCF) is exploring a community-wide affordability endowment to help more families access Jewish education and participate in Jewish communal life. Initially focused on Jewish day school tuition, the initiative could eventually expand to other costs associated with community participation, including synagogue membership, overnight summer camp experiences,  and recreational or cultural programs. To guide the endowment's development, DJCF needs a stronger understanding of the economic circumstances of Jewish families across Greater Dallas, particularly low- and middle-income households whose financial needs may not be adequately addressed by existing scholarship programs.

University of Texas at Dallas students will conduct an applied socioeconomic and demographic research study examining Jewish family affordability, educational access, and participation barriers across the Dallas area. Research will focus primarily on communities from Frisco, Allen, and McKinney through South Dallas, with broader regional comparisons where useful. Students will investigate local income distributions and cost-of-living conditions, household composition, Jewish day school tuition and financial assistance, and the estimated population of school-age children who might benefit from expanded scholarships. Drawing on available community studies, public datasets, school information, and research supplied by DJCF, students will examine how financial pressures and geographic differences influence families' ability to access educational and communal opportunities.

The team will also benchmark affordability and scholarship approaches used by other Jewish communities, including models being explored in Atlanta and Seattle. Students will evaluate how family size, income, educational expenses, and other financial circumstances could inform equitable scholarship eligibility and assistance levels. This research may also help DJCF understand how emerging scholarship-granting opportunities could complement a longer-term endowment strategy.

The final deliverable will be an evidence-based community affordability assessment, including relevant demographic and geographic findings, estimates of scholarship needs where reliable data permit, and recommendations to inform DJCF's endowment design and scholarship allocation strategy. Students will also propose a practical framework for a future family affordability calculator, outlining potential eligibility factors, financial assumptions, and methods for estimating reasonable educational contributions. If resources and student capabilities allow, an illustrative spreadsheet-based calculator could be developed as an additional deliverable. The resulting research will help DJCF make informed decisions about scholarship priorities, endowment planning, and expanding access to Jewish education and communal participation.