Our story
The Clara D Young Legacy Foundation began with a daughter's loss and a question: what would it look like to make memory care feel more human?
Clara D Young passed away from complications of Alzheimer's disease in August 2025. In her honor, this nonprofit is developing affordable memory care homes and a respite facility in Dallas, beginning in Pleasant Grove the neighborhood where Charliette was born and raised, and where her parents moved in 1970.
This work is personal for Charliette. After making their home in Pleasant Grove, her parents had to leave the community to find care for her mother. Clara’s House Pleasant Grove is being created so families can access quality, affordable memory care close to home because care should not be defined by financial status.
Clara’s House Pleasant Grove is the planned facility, and the Clara D. Young Legacy Foundation will lead its day-to-day operations. That includes compassionate memory care, respite services, caregiver education, staffing, and community operations, so support remains affordable, local, and centered on each family’s needs. The foundation will carry what it learns forward as the work expands. The goal is simple to say and meaningful to build: specialized care should make room for personhood, family, and community.
Founder & President
Dr. Charliette Cummings was born and raised within walking distance of the future Clara’s House Pleasant Grove site. She saw firsthand that it did not make sense for her parents and other neighborhood families to leave their community to find care.
With more than 20 years of healthcare industry experience in Dallas, including roles at Parkland Health and Baylor Scott & White, she brings a practical, systems-minded perspective to a deeply personal mission. She also served as her mother’s caregiver until her mother passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in 2025.
That experience continues to shape the foundation’s work: building affordable, community-based memory care that keeps families connected to the places they call home.
At a glance
Clara’s House & Community Center is the planned facility the Clara D. Young Legacy Foundation is developing to address the shortage of affordable, dignified, community-based support for individuals living with dementia and Alzheimer's disease and the family caregivers who support them.
The foundation will lead the day-to-day operations of Clara’s House Pleasant Grove, including compassionate memory care, weekday respite programming, caregiver education, staffing, and community operations. The planned model is an intimate, home-like residence for 8 to 10 residents, paired with weekday respite care, evening community programming, and weekend caregiver training, all on one 3-acre campus donated by a neighboring church.
The median household income in ZIP code 75217 is approximately $55,000. That is why Clara’s House is being designed to make quality memory care more accessible to local families, without requiring them to leave the community.
Source: Rounded figure based on the U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimate. This community statistic is separate from the site's planning projections.
Planning snapshot
More than 22 projected launch jobs would bring quality, well-paying work directly into Pleasant Grove’s 75217 neighborhood. Families could build good careers close to home while serving their own community.
All staffing and service figures are planning projections, subject to licensing, regulatory approval, funding, and final operating policy.
Our purpose
Clara’s legacy gives this work its beginning. Our purpose gives it a direction.
Mission
01The Clara D. Young Legacy Foundation serves families affected by Alzheimer's and dementia in Pleasant Grove and South Dallas by developing Clara's House, an affordable small-home memory care and respite community, and by providing free bilingual caregiver education and dementia-care workforce training so no family has to sell their home or leave their neighborhood to find quality care.
Vision
02A community where every family facing Alzheimer's or dementia can keep their loved one close, cared for with dignity in their own neighborhood, supported by trained local caregivers, and never forced to choose between their home and quality care.
The promise
For loved ones
A setting designed around smaller homes, specialized care, and the dignity of everyday routines.
For caregivers
Respite support that recognizes the people who give care need care and breathing room, too.
For neighbors
Community forums that make conversations about dementia and Alzheimer's more open and less isolating.
For care partners
A trusted resource healthcare organizations can share with families planning for long-term care.
Keep learning with us
CLARA’S HOUSE · SITE GUIDE
Choose a topic and we’ll point you to the right information.