Community Development and Revitalization

To become empowered, neighborhoods must be the ones to identify the issues they face and help form strategies to address them. Expanded, improved community outreach and engagement can achieve this, especially outreach to people who are typically not engaged or are hard to reach. A neighborhood self-assessment process and area plan updates will identify strategic actions for neighborhoods and partners. Local government and community partners must work with neighborhood organizations and groups and homeowners’ associations to increase neighborhoods’ capacity to take on initiatives that improve the welfare of their communities.

Creating a set of criteria to evaluate public improvements will lend transparency to this objective. By evaluating all public improvement projects with the same set of criteria, the city can highlight which projects best advance equity and the Playbook’s Goals. Expanding this evaluation system so it covers all public improvement projects, financial incentives, and subsidies would deliver more transparency and accountability in community development.

The city must broaden access to programs and information so neighborhoods have the best opportunity possible to develop and engage in the economy and city life. The physical environment should be designed to strengthen social connections for people of all ages and physical abilities to combat the tendency toward isolation (see also the Connected City Objective).

The city should expand neighborhoods’ access to environmental data to better understand the threat of climate change to their community and to engage in planning processes to mitigate the impacts. Related to that, the city also should continue efforts to eliminate the digital divide. That means working with the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion and other partners to identify and implement strategies to improve digital access (see the Smart City Technology and Trends Objective).

Strong neighborhood organizations can achieve a lot, but some initiatives will be beyond the ability of neighborhoods alone. For successful community development, neighborhoods need partnerships to help them reach their goals. These partners are often community anchors – major institutions such as hospitals, colleges, faith-based organizations, community development corporations, and businesses – that work with neighborhoods to implement neighborhood improvements and activities. A neighborhood self-assessment or strategic planning process can help neighborhoods identify initiatives and the partners they need to accomplish them.

Assistance could mean providing meeting spaces, youth and senior activities, special services and discounts, employment training, or physical reinvestment in the area. Partners also can be individuals and families with a special interest, skill, or ability to help their neighborhoods. The city should identify partners, and engage and support them, so they can contribute to the stability, identity, and growth of neighborhoods and the larger community. 

In Kansas City, there is a tremendous opportunity to rehabilitate and reactivate unused sites that previously contained buildings. Many urban neighborhoods have seen major reinvestment and rehabilitation in recent decades and now are thriving. But other neighborhoods are still experiencing the effects of disinvestment. Even in distressed neighborhoods, however, buildings have historically been constructed with quality materials, which means there are opportunities for rehabilitation. Rehabilitated structures and infill development support valuable older neighborhoods.

The city needs a thoughtful, coordinated, and comprehensive approach to reinforce, reaffirm, and rebuild these areas. The city also must put people first when it comes to code compliance, favoring effective problem solving over punitive measures.

Brownfields are vacant or underused properties where reuse or redevelopment is complicated by the presence, or perception, of contamination. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides funding, tools, and technical assistance to help communities identify, clean up, and reuse brownfields to help revitalize communities. This is especially important for people affected by environmental injustice.

Kansas City has operated an effective brownfields program for more than 25 years, successfully cleaning up properties to help renew neighborhoods and industrial areas. The most common contaminants are lead from paints and fuels, asbestos, underground fuel tanks, solvents from dry cleaners, and other commercial and light industrial chemicals. The continuing efforts of the city’s brownfield program are vital to Kansas City’s environmental health and to revitalizing communities that have been disproportionately impacted by harmful uses.