Daron Babcock | How an Urban Farm in South Dallas is Tackling Crime, Poverty, and Inequities

In the current political environment, it may seem dubious to believe that one day 330 million Americans could wake up and believe that they’re part of a civil society that recognizes their dignity as a human person.

But it’s not impossible. Daron Babcock believes there is hope.

Human dignity ought to be the end-all-be-all that guides us. Restoring self-governance and cultivating human flourishing starts with community. Daron and Kevin address the importance of community in restoring lives and why a focus on independence, rather than dependence on decades of failed public programs, has been both the path to success in Bonton, Texas and a model for poverty-stricken cities across the country.

Bonton, Texas, a small South Dallas neighborhood has long been plagued by crime, drugs, and gang violence. Daron Babcock shares how a Bonton, where 85% of the men have been to prison, has become a beacon of hope and a model for success.

This week’s guest: Moved by his personal beliefs, Daron Babcock couldn’t sit idly by as he witnessed his neighbors in South Dallas be ravaged by institutional inequities. In 2012, he left a successful corporate career and moved from his home in North Dallas to serve inner-city residents of Bonton, Texas with his wife, Theda. Known for crime, violence, and extreme poverty, Bonton needed intervention at the macro-level – something Daron knew was not only necessary but possible.

Daron is referred to as a “social entrepreneur,” having started multiple successful social ventures; Bonton Honey Company, The Market at Bonton Farms, a Coffee House, a Farmers Market, and CityBuild Housing to name a few. Of all his ventures, the most notable, though, is Bonton Farms, one of the largest urban farms in the United States nestled in a once-forgotten neighborhood in South Dallas.