A collaboration of urban and suburban churches and marketplace individuals working in a defined neighborhood (Wendell Phillips, Hickman Mills, KCK) to create a sustainable community where people want "to live not leave." Our focus areas are housing, economic development, education, health and wellness.
According to a report by the United Community Services of Johnson County, more than 225,000 people in the six-county area of the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area lived in poverty in 2010. From 2000-2010 the number of poor increased by 65 percent to nearly 90,000 people, and one-half of the increase occurred since 2007. The federal poverty rate in the Kansas City area increased from 8.6 percent of the population in 2000 to 12.7 percent in 2010. While the average poverty rate is 12.7 percent metro-wide, it is 20 percent within the urban core. The bottom line is Kansas City is losing ground, and urban neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty are suffering the most. There are no easy answers, however, to continue to rely solely on imperfect government institutions or very overwhelmed private charity is a recipe for continued decline.