PRO Neighborhoods Award Supports Swope Parkway/Blue Parkway Corridor Implementation Plan Development

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (October 21, 2019) – Emmet Pierson, chief executive officer of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC), and Shannon Hesterberg, CBKC director of real estate development, were on hand to receive the Kansas City area’s first JPMorgan Chase Partnership for Raising Opportunity in Neighborhoods (PRO Neighborhoods) investment at a ceremony today in Washington, D.C. The $100,000 award is a commitment by JPMorgan Chase to CBKC’s development of an implementation plan that will build on recommendations from a 2017 feasibility study to redevelop the Swope Parkway/Blue Parkway Corridor.

“This JPMorgan Chase commitment of $100,000 enables CBKC to collaborate with other community development financial institutions (CDFI) to map the Corridor’s role as a catalyst to improve surrounding neighborhoods,” said Pierson. “The goal is for more housing, small business, service providers and green space while protecting our current residents from displacement or the negative effectives of gentrification.”

PRO Neighborhoods is JPMorgan Chase’s five-year, $125 million commitment to equip community leaders with the tools needed to transform underserved neighborhoods into neighborhoods of opportunity, where diverse individuals and families at all income levels can live.

Pierson said this next phase of CBKC’s work will build on the $225 million in development the organization has implemented on Kansas City’s East Side since the 1990s. The feasibility study identified multiple follow-on redevelopment opportunities that include infrastructure needs, preliminary project phasing and financing strategies.

“CBKC appreciates this investment by JPMorgan Chase and its validation of the work we are doing that mirrors PRO Neighborhood’s goals of tackling local challenges such as blight, resident or small business displacement or barriers to economic mobility,” Pierson added. “Its support accelerates what CBKC already has underway.”

In 2019, JPMorgan Chase received 75 applications and awarded seven capital investment winners as well as nine planning investment winners. CBKC was one of the latter to receive this seed funding for early-stage neighborhood plans.