Grant money could help revitalize Kansas City neighborhoods
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – If you live in Kansas City, thousands of dollars could help revitalize your neighborhood.
Applications are now open for a relatively new city grant that’s already helped more than two dozen neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood Empowerment Grant started in 2023 and gave out $260,000 to 26 neighborhoods.
Kansas City council members voted to appropriate more money to the cause this year, bringing the 2024 funds to $400,000.
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The Blue Hills Neighborhood near Rockhurst University received $11,000 in 2023 and plans to apply again this year, which is allowed per the city’s website.
Linda Brown, the former president for the neighborhood association, said it helped her neighborhood in several ways.
“We had a really bad windstorm and one of our residents, his chimney, was blown over from that wind, which caused the rain to come in his house. We found someone that did masonry work and repaired it within the next following days,” Brown said.
That situation could’ve taken weeks to resolve, she said, without the grant money. Another example is a woman whose heater went out during the winter. The $11,000 helped cover the cost for a new unit and labor, and the woman had her heat back within hours.
Applications are now open for the Neighborhood Empowerment Grant through June 21 at the city’s website.
In order to apply, your neighborhood must be registered with the City of Kansas City and the state of Missouri. You’ll also need to submit an application online and write down what your community needs.
The program is meant to reduce violent crime, spur neighborhood investment, and reduce code violations. Recipients who are selected should receive the money sometime in the fall.
“We want to do our part to make sure we can strengthen our neighborhoods so that we can strengthen our city,” added Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw. She represents Kansas City’s Fifth District and helped start the grant program, which she said was born out of working with neighborhoods in the city’s urban core. “They like the fact they can use the funds to enhance their neighborhood the way that it needs to be. Some of the projects awarded last year had to do with minor home repairs. There were some that even applied to provide jobs for the youth in their neighborhood.”
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The most one neighborhood can get is $20,000 which can be a huge help, especially in desperate circumstances.
“It’s caused more people to want to be part of our neighborhood association,” Brown said. “It helped with emergency situations, things that people in the neighborhood may not have the money to have repairs.”
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