Neighborhood Champion: Julie Boye

They do it for no pay and little fanfare. Who are they? They are the neighborhood leaders who fight to improve some of the most distressed neighborhoods on the East Side of Kansas City, Missouri. These are the men and women who advocate for better housing, less crime, and more economic opportunity. Through its coverage…

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Neighborhood Champion: Mark Morales

They do it for no pay and little fanfare. Who are they? They are the neighborhood leaders who fight to improve some of the most distressed neighborhoods on the East Side of Kansas City, Missouri. These are the men and women who advocate for better housing, less crime, and more economic opportunity. Through its coverage…

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Jobs in Blue Valley

aerial view of the blue valley industrial area

It took a flood at his family’s business – Custom Truck One Source – to lead a frustrated Chris Ross back to his childhood stomping grounds in the Blue Valley neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. Custom Truck’s swamped site was located in the East Bottoms, but Ross knew that city leaders had invested millions in…

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Kansas City No Violence Alliance Reboots

Kansas City police investigate a homicide in late 2015

As mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Sly James has grown accustomed to phone calls from the police chief about yet another homicide. Sometimes James goes to the scene, and the details of one, from a Sunday morning, are seared into his memory. A wailing mother, still in her nightgown, was kneeling in the middle of…

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Can KC’s new leadership fix ‘the land that time forgot’?

An aerial view of the neighborhood

The kielbasa recipe hasn’t changed much since Peter May, a Polish immigrant, opened a grocery store in Kansas City’s Blue Valley neighborhood in 1929. Customers can count on the same fresh meat, no preservatives, spiced with a mixture passed down through the family. The location is the same, too. Peter May’s House of Kielbasa still…

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