Giving Communities More Power to Enact Change

Throughout my time in the Legislature, I’ve fought for measures that empower neighborhoods and communities to enact the changes they wish to see. Urban areas are faced with a number of unique problems, but I believe many can be faced at the local level, by people who are familiar with the streets and families who make up a neighborhood, including local leaders and dedicated activists.

This session, I’ve filed measures that will give local communities in urban areas more opportunities to take action. Senate Bill 191 creates the Center for Neighborhoods Fund in the state treasury. The money would be used to establish a center for the neighborhoods are the University of Missouri-Kansas City, under the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. The center would be required to:

• Actively engage with the city and region in which it is located to conduct collaborative outreach and research programs reflecting community-identified priorities in the areas of education and training, family and community health, and economic development; -
• Work with local governments, other political subdivisions, higher education institutions, and community organizations;
• Collaborate partner organizations to build the capacity of local neighborhood organizations and associations by providing technical assistance, applied planning research, and action plans for the prioritization of neighborhood revitalization strategies;
• Involve local leaders;
• Support academic service-learning by providing a support infrastructure that facilitates the placement of university students in the community; and
• Must compile data on the service-learning placements and identify learning outcomes.

I’ve also filed Senate Bill 228, which addresses urban blight in metropolitan areas. Throughout Kansas City, there are abandoned buildings. These places often become gathering places for criminal activities. Not only that, but they devalue the neighborhood, both economically and culturally.

My legislation would allow certain people to enter abandoned property to secure it, remove trash and graffiti, maintain the grounds, and provides immunity from civil and criminal liability. If there are those in our communities who are willing to step forth and improve their neighborhoods, we should be encouraging that, which is what this bill does.