Community-Wealth City: Kansas City, Missouri

Bordering and sharing a name with its suburban neighbor in adjacent Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the state with a population of more than 450,000. Known for its substantial musical contributions to jazz and blues starting in the 1930s, Kansas City is also informally referred to as the "Heart of America" by Kansas City residents since it is situated very near the geographic center of the nation. Although Missouri is substantially less diverse than the rest of the nation, Kansas City is much more diverse with a population that is 55 percent white, 30 percent African-American, 10 percent Latino, and 3 percent Asian.

Although more than 18 percent of city residents live in poverty – a rate greater than the rest of the state and nation, Kansas City can claim successfully to be home to nearly double the percentage of black-owned business firms and a slightly higher percentage of women-owned firms than the rest of the nation. The number of Latino-owned businesses has increased in Kansas City with the help of organizations like the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, which has helped add over 1,100 businesses since its inception.

Currently, the largest neighborhood revitalization project in Kansas City is the Green Impact Zone - a 150-square block area of one of Kansas City's most distraught and impacted neighborhoods that has a 25 percent property vacancy rate and median income of less than $30.000. With investments from federal, local, public, and private sources, the Green Impact Zone aims to reduce the 11.7 percent unemployment rate in the city and the estimated 50 percent unemployment rate currently in the targeted area. In addition to the $50 million TIGER grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Wells Fargo has donated 23 houses to the Green Impact Zone neighborhood along with a $7,500 cash donation per home for rehabilitation. Most recently, Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation has announced a donation of $2.3 million toward the $14 million needed to construct 50 affordable housing units in the Zone. This revitalization project also includes infrastructure replacements of the Troost Bridge, the establishment of public transportation, sustainable retrofitting, and employment assistance.

Although this is only a revitalization of a 150-square block area, other underserved and underinvested areas in Kansas City have not been ignored. The Mayor's New Tools Task Force is an initiative to develop a tool box for the distressed areas of Kansas City that have not benefitted fully from the development investments made in selected areas. The Task Force has 30 appointed members with a mission to create and support self-sufficient, sustainable communities while engaging the community in these efforts. The Task Force analyzes policy implementations and other financial considerations to assess the barriers to community development in all perspectives. One organization to come out of this process is WeDevelopment, a community development credit union, which was developed over a 9-month period and plans to open in Summer 2012. Other Projects that will help develop the community, such as a recycling center, use of vacant lots, and establishing urban businesses, have also been proposed.

An overview of community wealth building efforts follows:

Anchor Institutions

Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
www.gkccf.org
The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation is a non-profit entrepreneurial public charity founded in 1978 to help improve the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Community Foundation holds over $1.1 billion in assets and has provided over $1.5 billion in grants to date. Some funds partnered with the Community Foundation include the Black Community Fund, Hispanic Development Fund, Community Foundation of Johnson County, and the Catholic Community Foundation. The Community Foundation manages these funds' donations and grants, making it simpler for foundations to receive funds, while donors can make a more effective impact with their donation.

Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City
www.hcfgkc.org
Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF) is a non-profit established in 2002 to eliminate barriers and promote quality health care for uninsured and underserved residents of Kansas City. One of many projects funded by HCF is a grant of $40,000 for Harvesters' BackSnack program to provide nutritious food for Kansas City school children over the weekend and holidays by providing a backpack full of food on Fridays. In 2010, HCF had net assets of $445 million and net investment gains of $59.4 million.

Community Development Corporations (CDCs)

Black Economic Union of Greater Kansas City
www.beukc.org  
Black Economic Union of Greater Kansas City is a non-profit founded in 1968 by Cleveland Browns football star Jim Brown and former Kansas City Chiefs' Curtis McClinton. As the oldest CDC in Kansas City, it has invested nearly $60 million, developing 635 affordable multi-family units, 320 elderly units, 85 single-family homes, and nearly 721,000 square feet of office, commercial and business development to date.

Blue Hills Community Services
www.bhcsmo.org
Blue Hills Community Services (BHCS) is a non-profit founded in 1974 serving the residents of Blue Hills and surrounding neighborhoods using a block-by-block strategy to revitalize the community. Blue Hills has developed more than 960 affordable housing units, and has further assisted communities through their Save Our Streets crime prevention program and by administering education funds by the U.S. Department of Education. More recently, the nonprofit has invested $3.1 million to sustainably repurpose an existing 14,168 square-foot building to be used for green career and small business development, while providing local community services and programs.

Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City
www.edckc.com
Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDC) is a non-profit agency founded in 1987 to support economic development by fostering a connection between communities and businesses. EDC has helped the 125-year historic Kansas City Southern, a transportation holding company, relocate two of its facilities to Kansas City from Louisiana. With a $4 million investment, 129 new jobs were added to the city's job market. Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, EDC plans to create 30 new housing units by 2014 for low-income families in Kansas City's blighted urban core with a $2 million investment. In 2009, EDC reported annual revenue of $4.2 million with a total investment of $140 million, while creating 1,420 jobs.

Hispanic Economic Development Corporation
www.kchedc.org
Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) is a non-profit founded in 1993 with a focus on developing communities that enhance the quality of life for Latinos in Kansas City. HEDC takes action through business development and community wealth-building initiatives and has assisted more than 1,100 new Latino businesses develop since its inception. From 2010 to 2011, HEDC provided technical assistance to 451 entrepreneurs with a total of 1,640 counseling sessions in their service area. 117 of those assisted were in Jackson County, MO. As Kansas City's only Latino-focused CDC, HEDC offers various workshops and training classes to accommodate their target communities. HEDC received the 2011 E Pluribus Unum national award from The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) with a $50,000 prize. With the help of HEDC, a study showed that more than 30 percent of previously vacant buildings in northeast Kansas City are now occupied by immigrant businesses.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City, Inc.
www.nhsofkcmo.org
Neighborhood Housing Services of Kansas City, Inc. (NHSKC) is a non-profit founded in 1974, and is also a chartered NeighborWorks® Organization as of 1994. NHSKC has helped create 336 jobs and created 345 new homebuyers, while preserving 233 units of affordable housing with an investment of $62.2 million from 2006 to 2010. The annual NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute will be held in Kansas City for 2011, in which teams from across the country will develop community improvement plans.

Swope Community Builders
www.swopecommunitybuilders.org
Swope Community Builders (SCB) was established in 1991 and is a member company of Swope Community Enterprises. SCB is the largest CDC in the state of Missouri and its four-state region, which also includes Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. SCB is the sole Primary Property Developer for the State of Missouri and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Kansas City, where they rehabilitate foreclosed residential properties, while selling to buyers with less than 120 percent of Kansas City's median income. KCB has completed more than $200 million in development, including more than 500 housing units and 162,000 square feet of commercial retail developments. SCB has also invested $200 million in infrastructure improvements along Kansas City's most critical corridors of Brush Creek.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

Central Bank of Kansas City
www.centralbankkc.com
The Central Bank of Kansas City was chartered in 1950 as a state banking corporation, and has been minority family-owned since the 1960s. The Central Bank is recognized as a CDFI due to its investments in distressed communities and its sponsorship of financial education events such as Money Smart Month which attracted 6,200 attendees in 2011. In 2000, the Central Bank provided over $4 million to distressed communities in Kansas City. The Central Bank had total assets of $115 million in 2003, while providing over $1 million in financial support to other local certified CDFIs.

Kansas City Equity Fund
www.gatewaycdfi.com
The Kansas City Equity Fund (KCEF) was established in 2006 and has helped raise capital annually from financial institutions and corporations interested in investing in affordable and historic housing in Kansas City. In 2007, the Fund made its first investment to rehabilitate 75 units of affordable housing in Westside Apartments. With investments totaling nearly $11 million, and an investor base of 12 financial institutions, KCEF has invested in three properties in Kansas City to date.

KCMO CDE
www.kcmocde.org
KCMO CDE is a non-profit public benefit corporation founded in 2010 that provides services and investment capital to low-income communities through the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. KCMO CDE's Synergy Services program helps individuals and families with immediate respite from violence. In 2011, the Synergy Services hired 23 new staff members to raise $9 million in a campaign to build a new Homeless Youth Campus to shelter 600 homeless youth and help 1,500 young people through their Youth Resiliency Center. Adding 13 new jobs to low-income communities, KCMO CDE assisted Reeves-Wiedeman Company sustainably redevelop a 90-year-old historic building to revive a once thriving corridor with $5 million in NMTC. KCMO CDE had total revenue of more than $440,000 and net assets of $1 million as of 2011.

WeDevelopment
www.wedevelopmentcreditunion.org
WeDevelopment is a community development credit union owned and controlled by its community of members. Members pool their savings and provide loans for those in the community with a focus on serving low- and moderate-income people in Kansas City's historically underserved urban areas. As a newly created union, WeDevelopment is currently reviewing loan applications and hope to be finished with approvals by Summer 2012.

Community Land Trusts (CLTs)

Vinelanders Community Land Trust
www.vinelanders.org
Vinelanders Community Land Trust (VCLT) is a non-profit founded in 2010 to provide permanently affordable homeownership opportunities and resources to low- and modest-income buyers. VCLT hosts self-help groups to build one another's homes with assistance from VCLT's certified master builders. VCLT has two single family homes completed and are currently accepting applications.

Cooperatives (Co-ops)

Dairy Farmers of America
www.dfamilk.com
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is a farmer-owned milk marketing cooperative founded in 1998 and headquartered in Kansas City. DFA has 16,000 members in 48 states and 3,000 employees, and represents farms from a small 50-cow dairy in Pennsylvania to a 3,000-cow dairy farm in California. In 2010, DFA reported net sales of $9.8 billion and net income of $43.7 million. DFA serves its members by providing various services including operation management, productivity optimization, and increasing profit margins.

Good Natured Family Farms
www.goodnatured.net
Good Natured Family Farms (GNFF) is a co-op comprised of over 100 Kansas City-area family farms with a mission to practicing sustainable farming and humane treatment of animals. Their products are distributed to local supermarkets. GNFF is a brand owned by the All-Natural Beef Co-op, which consists of 18 farmers. As of 2008, GNFF's meat processing plant had annual sales revenues of $3 million with 6 employees and plant operation costs of $300,000. GNFF also supplies the $110 million revenue-generating Bistro Kids, a food services company serving private schools in Kansas City.

Shatto Milk Company
www.shattomilk.com  
Shatto Milk Company is a family-owned farmer co-op north of Kansas City. The farm has been around for over a 100 years, but only started distributing fresh bottled milk in 2003. Shatto Milk Company has annual revenue of more than $10 million and employs more than 25 people. This dairy farm locally delivers its milk fresh to the city in less than 12 hours, emphasizing their returnable and recyclable glass bottles for environmental reasons.

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

Burns & McDonnell
www.burnsmcd.com
Burns & McDonnell, an engineering consultant firm, was founded in 1898 and was ranked 26th in Fortune's 2012 list of "100 Best Companies to Work For." The company is 100 percent employee-owned and has been so for more than 25 years with the average worth of stock per employee equaling $215,000. As of 2009, Burns & McDonnell reported T&D revenue of $179.9 million and employed more than 2,840.

Commerce Bank
www.commercebank.com
Commerce Bank was founded in 1865, becoming the largest bank west of Chicago by 1890 as the National Bank of Commerce. Commerce Bank, a Chapter Officer of The ESOP Association., offers financial services for business looking to transition into an ESOP. With assets over $18.5 billion, the bank had a net income of $221 million in 2010. In 2008, the Commerce Bancshares Foundation invested $1.4 million in 645 community charities and organizations within the areas it operates, and also reinvests in the equity housing funds of the Kansas City and St. Louis regions.

HNTB Corporation
www.hntb.com
HNTB was founded in 1914 with history of having contributed significantly to the design of the Interstate Highway System. Today, it is still an infrastructure engineering and design firm that is employee-owned. Headquartered in Kansas City, HNTB generate annual revenue of $625 million and employs over 3,400 people in 60 branches nationwide.

Stern Brothers Valuation Advisors
www.sternbv.com
Stern Brothers Valuation Advisors is a private company founded in 1917 and owned by its employees. Also a Chapter Officer of The ESOP Association, Stern Brothers provides business valuation, financial advisory services, and litigation support. Stern Brothers has 6 staff members, and an estimated annual revenue of more than $2.5 million.

Individual Development Accounts

The Family Conservancy
www.thefamilyconservancy.org
The Family Conservancy (TFC) was first founded as The Provident Association in 1880 to help families with employment, floods, and epidemics. TFC now aims for the healthy development of children through supporting and educating parents and families. They have provided tools and resources to over 66,000 families in 2010, generating total revenue of over $13 million. TFC administers over 900 IDA accounts, making them the largest IDA administrator in the Kansas City metro area. These accounts serve participants from low-income communities including the Rose Brooks Center, a homeless shelter for women. As of 2006, 1,183 individual IDA accounts were opened with over $2.7 million in total potential savings deposited. To date, 170 IDA participants utilized their savings to purchase a home, while 175 used funds for higher education.

Green Collar Jobs

Green Works Kansas City
www.greenworkskc.org
Green Works Kansas City was founded in 2007 as a non-profit dedicated to educating urban youth on sustainability and the green economy through paid internships and experiential learning. Green Works provides experience and skills for careers in sustainability. In 2011, Green Works students began the first phase of a two-year habitat restoration project in Brush Creek as an $80,000-budget project. This project yielded over 3,500 native plants, 35 trees, and 100 shrubs including bird and bat houses. Green Works' Environmental Connection Opportunities for Students (ECOS) project is a year-long after school program that provides an environmental curriculum focused on Kansas City's environmental issues. At the programs end, students are assisted in the placement of summer internships to help continue their career path.

Socially Responsible Investing

Valdés & Moreno, Inc.
www.valdesmoreno.com   
Valdés & Moreno, Inc. is an investment firm founded in 1994 that helps its clients invest in socially responsible markets such as clean technology. The firm also helps investment managers, with a focus on women and minorities, to obtain capital on their own, which they believe provides a catalyst to support affordable housing initiatives and small business growth in underserved areas. Valdés & Moreno employs 5 people and has annual revenue of more than $1 million.

Municipal Enterprise

City of Kansas City, Mo., Water Services Department
www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/WaterServices
The City of Kansas City, Mo., Water Services Department is an enterprise-fund department that maintains water, storm water, and wastewater for its residents. The water services are entirely funded by user fees, thus are not funded by any general tax funds. Recently, after a 2005 voter approval, the Department has begun construction of a $1.4 million, 150,000 gallon water storage tank at the treatment plant to replace a 1925-built 75,000 gallon tank.  The Department services over 175,000 customers.

New State and Local Policies

Mayor's New Tools Task Force
www.kcmo.org/idc/groups/mayor/documents/mayor/new_tools_report.pdf
Mayor's New Tools Task Force is an initiative to develop a tool box for the distressed areas of Kansas City that have not benefitted fully from the development investments made in selected areas. The Task Force has 30 appointed members with a mission to create and support self-sufficient, sustainable communities while engaging the community in these efforts. The Task Force analyzes policy implementations and other financial considerations to assess the barriers to community development in all perspectives. Over a 9-month period, the residents of these distressed communities formulated the idea to create WEDevelopment, a community development credit union.  Other projects that will help develop the community, such as a recycling center, use of vacant lots, and establishing urban businesses, have also been proposed.

State and Local Investment

Green Impact Zone of Missouri
www.greenimpactzone.org
The Green Impact Zone is an initiative focused on Kansas City in order to demonstrate that a community can be transformed by concentrating resources. Through funding, coordination, and partnerships, the initiative aims to create jobs, improve energy efficiency, and strengthen communities through rehabilitation of housing units, community services, job training and placement, and wellness programs. Notably, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced a $50 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant, while a $20 million grant was announced by Vice-President Biden for energy retrofits in the Green Impact Zone and other Kansas City neighborhoods. Outside investments to the Zone total over $130 million coming from nine different investors.

Transit-Oriented Development

Smart Moves
www.kcsmartmoves.org
Smart Moves was developed in 2002 as a cooperative initiative of the Mid-America Regional Council, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Johnson County Transit, and Unified Government Transit. Smart Moves provides analysis and design studies for the transit system in Kansas City. Smart Moves' Project #398 Kansas City Streetcar analyzes the feasibility of a street car development in downtown Kansas City that will cost an estimated $101 million to construct. Another current project under analysis by Smart Moves is an expansion of rail and bus services from Kansas City to parts of Jackson County for transit-related economic development near major activity centers. The study is expected for completion by the end of Spring 2012.

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery
www.marc.org/tiger
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) is a grant program of the U.S. Department of Transportation with $1.5 billion appropriated on a competitive basis. With a $50 million grant announced in 2010 for the Green Impact Zone, many projects have been initiated in Kansas City including improved transit-stop amenities, traffic-signals, and street and sidewalk resurfacing. With $1.42 million of TIGER funds, the Eastern Corridors of Kansas City will welcome the Blue Ridge transit center, while the North Oak Corridor can expect bus-stop improvements starting in Winter 2012.

Urban Agriculture

Cultivate Kansas City
www.cultivatekc.org
Cultivate Kansas City, formerly known as Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, is a non-profit founded in 2005. They help Kansas City residents grow and eat good food in their city by teaching residents how to grow their own food, making available produce from Cultivate's own farms, and educating Kansas City about real food, good health, and vibrant communities. Cultivate Kansas City hosts many programs including the Kansas City Beans&Greens program, which matches dollar-for-dollar food assistance dollars spent at farmers' markets so that low-income residents can purchase local and healthy produce, while encouraging famers to sell their produce in these underserved communities.

Kansas City Community Gardens
www.kccg.org
Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG) is a non-profit founded in 2002 to help improve the well-being of low-income households by assisting them in growing their own produce. KCCG operates two community gardens in Kansas City, including their "Freeway Garden" which can be seen from the I-70. Through their Community Partners Program, KCCG partners with other local non-profit groups that aim to provide food assistance to low-income residents and education for the youth. In KCMO alone, there are 89 community gardens partnered through this program.  KCCG had net assets of over $500,000 and total revenue of $218,000 in 2009.

Kansas City Food Circle
www.kcfoodcircle.org
Kansas City Food Circle (KCFC) is an all-volunteer, grassroots organization founded in 1988 to develop a sustainable agricultural system by building a community of trust among local farmers, chefs, and grocers. KCFC is a project of the non-profit corporation Heart of America Action Linkage. KCFC has 77 member growers, which are local farmers who have pledged to meet certain requirements with the organization. As an information hub, KCFC partnered with Present Magazine to publish a series called the 100-Mile Diet Project, which helps inform residents about local foods and farms.

University Partnerships

University of Missouri – Kansas City
www.umkc.edu/community
The University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) Office of Community and Public Affairs has more than 50 local partnerships with four main foci: economic development, education, health, and community. UMKC has been ranked 15th in the New England Board of Higher Education's "Best Neighbor" institutions for its community involvement. UMKC assists these partners through articulation agreements, service on area boards, and sponsoring community programs. The Urban Research Lab (URL) opened in 2005 on the UMKC campus to provide a lab for academic instruction and community research. The URL is open to all UMKC affiliates and Kansas City residents. For the Financial Year of 2012, UMKC is budgeted to generate revenue of $323 million, with net gains of $69 million.