An advocate for family self-sufficiency, Deborah Dennis is a visionary with a mission to level the grasp of opportunity for citizens whose wherewithal is at or below 50% area median income. She believes whole-heartedly that with the appropriate attention and information, people can improve their standard of living and become self-sufficient. Using her expertise as a real estate entrepreneur, home builder, educator, and motivational speaker, she forwards her vision through her book “The Road to Credit Repair” and through the Your Discovery Place project, a program that she started to enhance the earning capacity of individuals through training, counseling, and life skills awareness in an effort to sustain family unity.
Her ultimate goal is to have the Your Discovery Place become a model that will spread globally to decimate family fragmentation and teach individuals how to recession-proof their livelihood underneath a concentration which provide the tools for building wealth. Under the family’s 501C3, WREM Literacy, a holistic approach for revitalizing the family unit is accomplished through job training, adult literacy, financial literacy, and early childhood development.
Believing that our children are gems that are loaned to us from the future, Deborah is adamant in her quest to provide children with an environment of comfort and security, while they pursue quality instruction along their journey to adulthood. Working diligently to promote the value of higher education, she gives back to the community through scholarships to Prairie View A & M University and financial support of inner-city schools.
During Deborah’s 18 years as a real estate entrepreneur, she and her husband, W. T., have “raised the bar” and redefined quality construction in the southern sector of Dallas, TX. They have been on the leading-edge of community development, blazing trails for enhanced housing. Together she and her husband built the Enchanted Villas subdivision — Oak Cliff’s first gated community of custom and unique homes. Through their vision for quality construction in the southern sector, homes were brought to the region that developers only target for the northern sector of Dallas County.
As a motivational speaker, Deborah travels across the country to bring awareness to those issues which destroy family unity — lack of ability to generate appropriate income, debt enslavement, and poor life skills. The Your Discovery Place is the model she uses to ameliorate these issues. She inspires hope by sharing her personal story of triumph over adversity.
An avid philanthropist, Deborah gives back to the community through the sponsoring of the TOY Brunch, an award ceremony for honoring teachers from inner-city schools in the southern sector of Dallas, who have achieved the status of Teacher of the Year. She is a lifetime member of the Black Chamber of Commerce in Dallas, TX, and on numerous occasions, she has been cited in the media for her work in community development. Moreover, she has been inducted into the Professional and Business Women’s Hall of Fame and additionally honored by numerous social and civic organizations for her accomplishments as an entrepreneur.
Deborah graduated with honors in Computer Science from Texas A & M in Commerce, TX, where she obtained both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Computer Science. Working in industry for more than 14 years in the field of software engineering, she held numerous positions of responsibility throughout her career. Simultaneously, she taught classes in Computer Science at the junior college as an adjunct professor.
A resident of the Dallas metropolitan area for more than 20 years, Deborah lives in the southern Dallas County area with her husband, two girls, and two grand babies. They attend Holy Cross Catholic Church in Oak Cliff.