KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six metro-area nonprofit organizations are set to receive federal funding to hire people to work in urban core neighborhoods, officials announced on Friday.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation is giving out nearly $315,000 to hire people to work in urban neighborhoods to help make them safer and more livable. One of the groups receiving funds – The Front Porch Alliance – is working to give kids in the Ivanhoe neighborhood a place to go and learn during their winter break.
Front Porch Alliance youth program manager Colleen Innis says that the program gives teens a positive place to engage in activities and talk about what’s going on in their lives.
“I know they have positive activities, they have things they can engage in, that aren’t offered anywhere else. I think if we weren’t here for them, then there would be a lot of young people that are just hanging out,” said Innis, one of seven workers hired with federal grant money to help blighted neighborhoods.
By having full-time staffers working to fulfill neighborhood needs, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation hopes to speed up revitalization efforts in the urban core.
“They said they want a more informed youth population. They said they want them more engaged on a daily basis. That’s what Front Porch Alliance provides. Without our critical funding coming from our national office, we wouldn’t be able to provide services and help improve what’s going on in Ivanhoe,” said Damon Broadus of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
Teens like De’leicha Garner say that the program helps bring them together as a neighborhood.
“I come here to like hang out with my friends, after school and stuff. I like it because it’s a second choice whether to be at home or being on the streets somewhere,” said Garner.
The Don Bosco Center, Blue Hills Community Services and KC Healthy Kids are among the other nonprofits getting federal grants to hire workers.