In the Spotlight
Summit Inspires, Forges Re-commitment

Civic and business leaders, residents and stakeholders from all six NeighborhoodsNOW communities came

together April 3 & 4 to revisit their Quality of Life Plans at a Community Engagement Summit hosted by Greater

Kansas City LISC. 

 “The goal of the Summit was not only to adjust the Quality of Life plans so they reflect the neighborhoods’ current priorities, but also to bring new stakeholders into the process,” explained Julie Porter, Greater Kansas City LISC executive director.  The original Quality of Life Plans were drawn up for the NeighborhoodsNOW target areas in 2006 based on the priorities laid out by neighborhood residents, leaders and stakeholders.  As part of the program, these plans were to be revisited after three years.   

The two day Community Engagement Summit kicked offwith a speech by nationally-recognized community development pioneer, Bishop Arthur Brazier, which set a positive and hopeful tone that was carried throughout the event.  Inspiring the audience with his struggles and successes in Chicago’s once distressed, and now renewed, Woodlawn neighborhood, Brazier reminded everyone that community development is a long process and to “make no small plans.”    With that advice in mind, the second day was reserved for discussion and planning within each neighborhood, facilitated by National LISC staff and local professionals.  The groups were asked to envision their neighborhood in ten years if everything happened as they wanted. The neighborhoods then mapped out

the steps that it would take to get them there, testing their vision against their original Quality of Life Plan, and reworking the plan where needed.

Bishop Arthur Brazier

Jim Capraro, executive director of the Greater Southwest Development Corporation in Chicago, led the Scarritt-Renaissance break-out session where the discussion continued to come back to issues of reaching out to the diverse populations in the area.  “As in neighborhoods in other cities I’ve worked with, Scarritt has many ethnic groups living in one geographical area, but not living as one community,” explained Capraro.  Among the many priorities that came out of the discussion, including safety issues, education, and the revitalization of the Independence Avenue commercial corridor, each of the twenty stakeholders and residents present agreed to reach out to five new people who needed to be part of the planning. Capraro continued, “It’s about reaching out and saying, ‘it's a bigger community than just people like me. A good vision for the full community is going to have to be able to serve myself and the five people I've met.’”  

While for Scarritt it’s about bringing the right people to the table, for some neighborhoods, like Downtown Kansas City, Kansas, the focus will be on expansion.  “Their vision is similar to the previous Quality of Life Plan, however, the original action plan elements were nearly complete so an entirely new set of priorities need to be put in place,” explained Julie Porter.  Priorities for the neighborhood include new residential housing, beautification, community safety, retail development, green space and arts initiatives within the neighborhood.  “The new action plan is much more aggressive, setting the stage for the re-plotting of downtown streets, movement of nonprofit organizations from store-front to upper levels, new retail, new work-live space, and new housing in Strawberry Hill,” said Porter. 

“The enthusiasm that came out of the discussions was palpable.  Our job is to keep that going,” added Porter.  To that end, each group of neighborhood partners will continue meeting over the next 60-90 days to fine tune goals and finalize the changes to their Quality of Life Plans.  The revised action plans are slated to be completed by summers end.