Dallas again offers teens free passes to cultural attractions for the summer

The city of Dallas’s annual Teen All Access Pass program is back, giving teens free access to some of the city’s top attractions for the summer.

City leaders say the program engages kids and helps fight crime during the summer months.

At the Jaycee Zaragoza Recreation Center in Dallas, they’ve already been coming in waves: teenagers and their parents showing up to get their hands on a summer all-access pass.

For the fourth straight summer, these passes will give teens free access to some of the city’s most popular attractions, including the Bahama Beach Waterpark, the Dallas Museum of Arts, and the Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

“It gives them something to do, other than just being cooped up in the house,” said Taylor Zuazua, Recreation Coordinator with the city of Dallas. “They have something fun and free to go to throughout the whole summer.”

The city of Dallas will give out up to 10,000 of these teen all-access passes to kids aged 13 to 17 who register with their parents at city rec centers.

The program began back in 2021, with city leaders hoping to give teens positive activities during the summer and keep them off the street with too much time on their hands.

“And this is when the bad decisions start to come when they’re out there in the streets with other kids,” said Jaime Castro, President of the Dallas Police Association.

The Dallas Police Association told NBC 5 that data showed teens who used the passes and other city programs were far less likely to engage in criminal activity.

“So the success is right there,” said Castro. “We need to understand that and we need to do everything we can to encourage parents to enroll their kids because the success rate is amazing.”

The passes expire at the end of the summer, and city parks officials say families are already lining up to get their kids involved.

There have been questions about equity: in recent years, community advocates told NBC 5 they were concerned that teens in some neighborhoods that have been most impacted by crime may not have the resources to sign up for these passes and travel to attractions.

In response, Dallas Parks officials said those families could use public transportation like DART to take advantage of the program.  

“It feels good giving back to them,” Zuazua said. “They have something fun to do, other than just being stuck in the house.”

The teen all-access program is first come, first serve to sign up for these passes.

You can find the full list of attractions and rec centers offering the passes at DallasParks.Org