Heelys, Inc., (NASDAQ:HLYS) manufacturer of Heelys(R) skate shoes, announced that it will donate $15,000 worth of shoes to Buckner International, a global Christian ministry based in Dallas.

Heelys will provide Buckner International with 232 pairs of its MegaWatt model in a wide variety of sizes, for distribution to orphans, vulnerable children and families.

Heelys has been a regular donor to Buckner International, having sent them more than $100,000 worth of product over the past two years.

“Heelys is a proud ongoing partner with Buckner International in its mission of restoration and healing,” said Rick Groesch, the chief commercial officer for Heelys, Inc. “Putting shoes on the feet of so many in need is a simple but powerful ministry. What we are really excited about is not only the opportunity to supply the much needed shoes but also allow the kids to have fun when the wheels are in place.”

Buckner International annually serves more than 400,000 people in more than 60 countries around the world. Established in 1879 as the Buckner Orphans Home in Dallas, Buckner International restores and heals children, families and senior adults.

Photo from Heely’s Facebook page.

Dr. Lawana Gladney (Dr.G), life expert, success psychologist and emotional wellness doctor has been recognized with two coveted honors. On Feb.3, she will receive the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce’s “Quest for Success Award” and on Feb. 17, she will moderate a panel of health and wellness experts for Black Enterprise’s 2012 “Women of Power Summit” taking place in Orlando, Florida.

“I am so honored to be recognized by the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce for such a prestigious award and to be a participant of Black Enterprise’s Women of Power Summit” said Dr. Lawana Gladney, life expert, psychologist and emotional wellness doctor. “Both organizations play such an integral role in positively impacting the African- American business community.”

Dr. Lawana Gladney’s business achievements, leadership and dedication to the community have earned her the “Quest for Success Award” which will be presented during the 28^th Annual Quest for Success Awards luncheon taking place at the Dallas Convention Center.

Dr. G., along with other award recipients, will be saluted at the event with an award and video presentation documenting her professional success and accomplishments. Additionally, her wealth of knowledge and experience in emotional wellness and empowerment has earned her the role of moderator for the Black Enterprise “Women of Power Summit”.

At this empowering event designed to offer professional and lifestyle success strategies to executive women of color, Dr. G. will lead a panel of health and wellness experts in an insightful session titled: “The Naked Truth: Uncovering our Sex, Weight, Health & Beauty.” With a continuous commitment to positively impacting the community, Dr. G’s business and community contributions have been recognized by several companies and organizations.

In 2011, she was recognized by Meetings Planners International with the “Supplier of the Year” award and presented empowerment workshops and seminars on the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage Cruise and the Allstate® Tom Joyner Family Reunion.

She also appeared as a guest expert onWashington Watch with Roland Martin and Baisden after Dark with Michael Baisden. For additional information about Dr. G and her array of empowerment workshops and seminars, please visit .

There’s no better way to support local nonprofit organizations than by eating great Dallas Mexican cuisine.  El Ranchito in Oak Cliff along with their sister restaurant La Calle Doce in Oak Cliff and also in Lakewood will be donating a portion of sales to Promise House and Genesis Women’s Shelter in Oak Cliff when diners order certain dishes at each restaurant.

Proceeds from the Pescado a la Parilla from La Calle Doce in Oak Cliff, the Enchiladas de Camaron at La Calle Doce in Lakewood, and the Guiso Norteno at El Ranchito will benefit both organizations.  Owner Laura Sanchez plans to hold a check presentation in March, once all proceeds have been collected.  For more information, please visit www.lacalledoce-dallas.com or www.elranchito-dallas.com.

What: Love Your Charity at La Calle Doce and El Ranchito

Where: El Ranchito
610 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75208

La Calle Doce Lakewood
1925 Skillman
Dallas, TX 75206

La Calle Doce Oak Cliff
415 West 12^th Street
Dallas, TX 75208

When: February 1 to February 29, 2012

Created By Online PhD

The Urban League of Greater Dallas and North Central Texas today announced a new partnership with the Atmos Energy Corporation to provide home weatherization and utility assistance to qualifying natural gas customers served in North Central Texas.

“Atmos Energy proudly supports community based initiatives to help our customers lower their natural gas usage and to pay their utility bills,” said Dan Alderson, Director of Energy Assistance for Atmos Energy Corporation. “The programs will provide funds to weatherize homes, assist with gas line replacements and pay utility bills for those who qualify.”

Atmos Energy’s donation of $120,000 to the League will provide free home weatherization and utility assistance to qualifying natural gas customers in North Central Texas. The program funds will be used to improve the energy efficiency of Atmos Energy customer’s homes using the most advanced technologies and testing protocols available in the housing industry. Energy efficiency measures performed through this program include weather stripping, caulking, ceiling insulation, gas water heater replacement, pipe insulation and gas piping repair or replacement.

“We are excited to work with Atmos Energy to increase energy assistance to the utility’s customers in Dallas, Irving, and Garland,” said Beverly Mitchell-Brooks, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Dallas. “In addition to weatherization, the program is also designed to supplement payments made by the elderly, disabled or low income customers who are unable to pay the full cost to heat their homes.”

“Through this partnership, the Urban League will now be able to provide assistance to our customers with their gas utility bills,” said Sandra Doyle, director of public affairs for Atmos Energy’s Mid-Tex Division and Urban League board member.

The Mid-Tex Division of Atmos Energy Corporation, based in Dallas, Texas, serves approximately 1.5 million natural gas utility customers in north and central Texas.

Alex Burton has lived on Kessler Parkway in Oak Cliff for the past 40 years.  He remembers the way nearby Ft. Worth Avenue used to be.

“That was the playground of Dallas,” Burton said.

He said there were bars, hangouts and several gambling places along the avenue. It was the main road leading into downtown Dallas and the life-blood of the city.

The addition of Interstate 30 changed everything, pushing traffic away from Ft. Worth Avenue. The once vibrant atmosphere slowly began to fade until it became a hodge-podge of run-down buildings, apartments, service stations and motels.

“The whole character of that particular strip has changed enormously,” Burton said. “It just sat there for years and years.”

But all of that is about to change.

Oak Cliff or West Dallas?

New development is coming to the intersection of Ft. Worth and Sylvan Avenue. By fall 2012, the now razed 6-acre piece of land will be filled with a mixed-use area including 200 apartments, restaurants, retail stores, a park area and a grocery store. The development is called Sylvan Thirty.

Burton lives just around the corner from the development site and next door to its developer, Brent Jackson.

Brent Jackson

Jackson is the founder and president of Oaxaca Interests LLC and has been in real estate more than 12 years. He began working on the Sylvan Thirty development in November 2007.  He said the existing demand for grocery stores and more retail in the neighborhood was grossly underserved.

“We felt there was clearly a need to provide that supply,” Jackson said. Jackson also said he thinks the project will help bridge west Dallas and Oak Cliff neighborhoods. “People often ask me, ‘Is this an Oak Cliff project or a West Dallas project?’ And I say, ‘yes,’” Jackson said.

Sylvan Thirty’s zoning application went before the Dallas planning and zoning commission on Oct. 6 and passed with a 10-3 vote and a recommendation from the city staff. The zoning application is tentatively scheduled to be voted on by the city council on Dec. 14.

Tentative Welcome to the Neighborhood

Many residents and surrounding businesses are happy to see growth in the area, but some have voiced concerns regarding the development’s zoning standards. Monte Anderson, owner of the Belmont Hotel, is one of them. His hotel sits on the opposite corner of the Sylvan Thirty development site.

Anderson is a real estate developer and broker who has lived in southern Dallas County his entire life. He bought the Belmont Hotel on St. Patrick’s Day in 2004 and remodeled it in 2005.

“We were the catalyst project over here,” Anderson said.

He also said it is good to see development in the area, but would like Jackson to have a more urban design.  According to Anderson, urban design consists of elements like three-story buildings with retail below and residential above, wide sidewalks, street parking, bike lanes and store-fronts facing the street. Anderson said Jackson has not adhered to these standards.

“He doesn’t value the urbanism,” Anderson said. “If he did he wouldn’t build like he’s building.”

One of the most contentious issues is the height of Sylvan Thirty. Anderson said its tall buildings would block the view of downtown from his hotel patio at the Bar Belmont. He is asking that the development’s building height be lowered to 60 ft.

Because Anderson’s hotel is within 200 ft. of the development site, he was able to pay a $150 city fee to have the City Council vote postponed until December.  “We’ll fight them ‘til hell freezes over, and then we’ll fight them on the ice,” Anderson said his lawyer told him.

Jackson said the minimum height the development can live with is 70 ft.

Despite their differences, Anderson said he would like to have more neighbors. He said he needs places his guests can walk to. The hotel currently has a shuttle service that takes people into the Bishop Arts District because it is the closest attraction.

“We’re an island out here by ourselves right now,” Anderson said.

Design and Density

The Sylvan Thirty development was designed by Lake Flato Architects.  Lake Flato is a design firm that has gained national recognition for architecture.  In 2004, the company received the Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, the highest honor an architecture firm can receive.

Jackson said he believes Lake Flato has designed a development that is in keeping with the existing community and meets the needs for the site.  “They are very gifted at creating a unique space,” Jackson said.

Jackson would also like to fill the site with basic retail like a bank, dry cleaners, pet stores and maybe a nail salon. Sylvan Thirty will also have an on-site concierge service for its residents. The park will be used for things like community functions, music, plays and other outdoor events. Jackson said he is currently looking for businesses to lease space.

“Without leasing you don’t have a project,” he said.

One of the highlights in Jackson’s plan is the site’s organic grocery store, Cox Farms Market. Jackson said much of the community has been asking for a grocery store like this. The market focuses on providing quality produce, service and fair price. Owner Mark Cox also said he buys local as much as possible.

Cox has been in the produce business his whole life. He grew up in West Texas and his grandfather had fruit stands that sent produce as far as California and Florida. Cox said he thought that was how everyone operated. One day he realized, it was more than a typical fruit stand.

“Nobody did it like us,” Cox said.

Cox Farms Market is not a chain. The only current location is in Duncanville; however, Cox said he has several customers that come from Oak Cliff and some from as far as Waxahachie.

“This grocer attracts from a pretty wide radius,” Jackson said about Cox.

Cox was hesitant to join the Sylvan Thirty development at first because he wanted to own his own property.  Cox had been looking to expand several years ago, but started backing off in late 2006 because he worried about the economy. Less than two years later, the economy crashed.

“I was right. I knew I was,” Cox said.

Around that same time, Jackson started approaching Cox about joining the development. Cox said it took about two years for him to agree to be part of the site, but he is now excited and ready to go.

“There’s no hesitation from me,” Cox said. “Just hurry up and get it done.” As of now, the Sylvan Thirty land is an empty field. Everything on it has been demolished. All that remains is a sign that reads, “Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts.”

“Oh, it’s gone,” DeSoto resident Willie Sanders said when he realized the Alamo hotel had been removed. “That’s why there’s so much space over there.”

Jackson said his company made a commitment to Preservation Dallas, a non-profit dedicated to saving some of the communities finest landmarks, to keep the Alamo hotel sign and somehow integrate it into the site.

Sanders drove past that intersection almost every day for 20 years. He took his daughters from DeSoto to school every day at Trinity Street Christian Academy in the heart of Oak Cliff. This was the first time he had been in the area in about a year.

“It was somewhat of a shock to see it all gone,” Sanders said in an interview at the Chase Bank across the street.

Now that he isn’t driving his girls to school anymore, Sanders said the Sylvan Thirty site would give him a reason to come to Oak Cliff.

“I’m not in this area often, but if I knew it was here, I would certainly come.”

This infographic from Health Science shows us some odd ways that fruit drinks have become just as bad as that temporarily thirst quenching can of soda. The marketing efforts of some big name companies, have disguised themselves as a healthier alternative, but the increasing amount of calories and sugar in fruit drinks from such companies, have some people wondering: Am I being tricked? Is my health being jeopardized? Are fruit drinks really a more ‘healthier alternative’? This infographic lays it all out for you.

Created by: Health Science

This infographic by Marketing Degree illustrates the advantage that companies have taken by misleading consumers and making them “Greenwashed”. Greenwashing is a term that defines a company’s marketing tactics that mislead consumers about the environment-friendly product or service that a company has to offer and in a sense, ‘brain washing’ consumers to think that they’re being green and sustainable. This infographic highlights 7 common ways that companies mislead consumers and how you — the person who strives for sustainability — as the consumer, can avoid such traps.

Created by: Marketing Degree

A lot of jobs that once were, aren’t coming back. Ever. To look for what isn’t there is a waste of time and an insult to your dignity.

If you haven’t noticed, the world has changed — radically. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has imploded. The path to a high-paying job used to involve getting the highest academic degree you could obtain, along with specific technical job skills, to start climbing the ladder.

Today, most of the ladders are decimated. If those jobs still exist, the needed knowledge and skills of those jobs have changed . . . and change again every day.

These are the greatest times of opportunity we have seen in human history — but only if you know how to seize them. To succeed you need to change with the way the world is working now. If you are unemployed, underemployed, or want to take control of your financial future, here are seven strategies to thrive in the new world.

1. Adapt to the new reality.

Over the last decade we have witnessed the death rattle of an era gone by. The corporate structure and monolithic systems of the industrial age have begun to crumble. We are returning to the way we started — as entrepreneurs. When America was founded, the majority of people had their own business, farm, market or trade.

People used their skillsets and hobbies to make a living as entrepreneurs. Then the industrial age flipped the ratio and most people became employed by new systems of repetitive labor and mass production.

Technology recently wired all of us directly to each other, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels, giving every entrepreneur immediate and direct access to a global marketplace of opportunity, right from their fingertips . . . or laptop. This means competition doesn’t just come from the business down the street, but also from every basement or second bedroom of every home in every city or suburb in every country of the world. You better become a continual learner and constantly improve your special skills.

2. Stop looking for a job and start looking for an opportunity.

Take the skills you have as an employee and turn those into a contract services business. You have an expertise, knowledge and experience in something that’s unique to you. Your skillset might be so unique you don’t even recognize it as personal expertise. What is your experience, knowledge or unique gifts?

Ask a good friend, colleague or former employer to tell you. Once you discover your specialization, hire your expertise out, offer it to multiple businesses and entrepreneurs who need what you can deliver.

More companies are hiring consultants and contractors for specific projects, specialized skills and services. Bartering services on the Internet are booming — sites like SwapASkil.com, UExchange.com, TradeAway.com and SwapThing.com.

3. What do you have?

What goods do you have that others might want? What goods do you have easy access to that most do not? What goods can you make that people would want? Answer one or more of those questions and take it to market through eBay or an automated Amazon.com store. You also can write about your area of skill or expertise.

You can create a how-to information book and sell it through ClickBank, create a podcast or video blog series and distribute it through iTunes or other distributions channels. Follow through on a great idea. There are probably thousands of people who want to know what you know or how to do what you do. Plus, it has never been cheaper to build, outfit and market your business than it is today. Vendors are flexible and partnerships are open.

4. Who do you know?

If you want to calculate your potential for increased wealth, don’t look at your current bank balance, cars or property inventory. Look at the inventory of your high caliber relationships. With the Industrial Age over, we are now in the Relationship Age. Unequivocally, the relationships you build will be your No. 1 asset in these expanding and fast-changing times.

Your ability to network is the skill you want to hone, practice and master. Your ability to get to, connect with and establish relationships with important and purposeful people will be your gateway to any goal, destination or aspiration you have.

5. What problem can you solve?

The economic downturn has created a ton of new problems that need solving. Problems are food and oxygen for entrepreneurialism. Those who create solutions to our new problems will become the beneficiaries of these times. Remember, 90 percent of entrepreneurs started out at the bottom, broke or with little capital or savings. Today they are among the world’s wealthiest.

6. Return to self-reliance and self-responsibility.

You make your choices; then your choices make you. Everything in your life exists because you made a choice about something. Choices are at the root of your results. Don’t choose at all and you’ve made the choice to be the passive receiver of whatever comes your way. Most people think they take responsibility for their lives, but many people operate in the world of blaming, finger pointing and expecting someone else — or the government — to solve their problems. You can’t count on anyone else for your success but you.

7. Take control of your future!

Separate from everyone else by developing the mindset, habits, actions and persistence it’s going to take for personal accountability and control of your future. Your soft skills can give you the leading edge. With the mind-blowing velocity of change and throng of competition, the skills needed for success today are less about academic, industrial, or technical training and more about soft skills — emotional intelligence, adaptability,  resiliency, relationship-building, accountability, productivity and leadership skills.

There are no secrets, shortcuts or quick fixes to success. It takes hard work, personal responsibility and positive choices. You already know all the information you need to succeed. You just need a new plan of action. Now is the time.

Darren Hardy, author of The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success, has been a leader in the personal development industry for sixteen years, having led two personal development-based television networks, producing and launching more than a thousand television shows, live events, products, and programs with many of the world’s top experts.

What is it that makes certain people in a company or organization come together and accomplish extraordinary things? How can a team of people who may only be average performers individually, produce remarkable results when they work together? How do they consistently exceed expectations every year and have the audacity to set even higher goals, all while having fun as they work?

Throughout my training experiences and discussions with thousands of supervisors, managers, directors and senior executives, I have realized that there are four things these workplace winners have in common:Shared Purpose, Open Communication, Trust and an Innovative Mentality.

Some organizations are completely blind to the fact that they don’t have teams, they have groups. The main difference between a group and a team is that a group is just a collection of individuals who are only looking out for their self interest. They only care about their individual goals, promotion, salary etc.. A team consists of individuals who understand that none of us is greater than all of us and they genuinely care about each other and know they can only grow and win, when they help their team members grow and win.

The Fabulous Four Qualities listed below will help your team grow to the next level and eventually become a top performing team:

1. Shared Purpose:
- Every team member knows the vision, mission, goals of the team and the overall organization.

- Each team member knows why their work, tasks, duties and contribution matters, and how it impacts the entire team and organization.

- Each team member knows their role, responsibilities, what they’re accountable for, and no matter how small their role, it is equally celebrated, valued and respected by the team.

2. Open Communication:
- Each team member feels as though they can freely share ideas, opinions and potential solutions to the team without fear or being ridiculed.

- High performing teams have feedback forums (meetings, social gatherings etc…) where feedback on performance, ideas, needs for assistance are communicated.

3. Trust:
- High performing teams consistently do what they say, and they hold every team member accountable to the same standard.

- Each team member shares personal interest and goals. (They become like extended family)

4. Innovative Mentality:
- Each team member has an innovative mentality, which means they relentlessly see or do things in a new or more effective way.

- Top performing teams have no comfort zone. Members of teams with comfort zones say things such as “if ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Top performing teams understand that a comfort zone in today’s rapidly changing economy means laid-off, outsourced or downsized. Instead, their mentality is “if ain’t broke don’t fix it, unless you can make it better!”

- Top performing teams have innovative sessions, where they meet frequently to discuss how to improve the product, service, programs, reports, equipment, etc… They dedicate entire meetings to just thinking about better methods and improving things.

It’s no secret that top performing teams go from ordinary to extraordinary by doing certain things and having specific qualities. It may take some time, but your team can accomplish it.

In part 2, we will discuss the particular phases of team development and what leaders must do to make sure their team successfully graduates from each phase.

James Bird Guess is a performance coach and noted authority on change, leadership and small business. He is also the best-selling author of the book, How I Made a Quarter Million Dollar$ From the Trunk of My Car, and founder of JBG International Success Academy, a personal development training and research company. James can be reached at speak@jamesbirdguess.com