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What You Need to Know About the COVID-19 Vaccination
Imagine if you could do one small thing that would help life get back to pre-pandemic normal, or even some semblance of normal. Well, you can. By getting vaccinated, you are doing your part to help your family, friends and work life return to how we used to live. Community Builders of Kansas City is working to educate its community about the importance of the vaccine and help residents gain access to the shot.
“Getting vaccinated is one of the most effective ways to fight the coronavirus and get our lives back,” said Emmet Pierson, president and CEO of CBKC. “CBKC is committed to the health of our community and the fight against COVID-19. We are doing what we can to educate the public about the vaccine and get shots in arms.”
CBKC has provided its office space at 4401 E. Blue Parkway to officials at Swope Health to run a vaccination clinic. The clinic began mid-February and is scheduled to run through August. Around 5,000 people have been vaccinated at the clinic already, with about 350 people coming through daily. The goal is to ramp up to 500 people per day.
Appointments are required for the clinic. You can check your eligibility and schedule your shot by calling 877-435-8411 or visiting https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator/.
Educating the public about the importance of vaccines is important to CBKC so we’d like to dispel some of the misinformation we’ve heard.
The truth about the vaccines:
- The vaccines do not alter your DNA.
- You cannot get the virus from the vaccines since they do not contain any live virus
- Vaccines do not contain preservatives.
- Allergic reactions are extremely rare – one in 500,000 to 1 million. Conversely, the virus has been killing people at a rate of one in every 50.
- Even if you don’t feel sick, you can still have and pass COVID-19. In fact, 50 percent of people with the virus have no symptoms and feel fine but are still spreading the disease.
- You still need the vaccine even if you’ve already had the virus. Immunity from having the virus is reported to last three to six months so you need to get vaccinated to avoid reinfection.
If you have questions about the vaccinations, talk to your healthcare provider. When reading information online, be sure the source is reputable, such as The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Misinformation is everywhere so be selective.
Sign Up to Get the COVID-19 Vaccination
Community Builders of Kansas City is helping its community gain access to the COVID-19 vaccination by hosting vaccination clinics and co-sponsoring a mass vaccination event.
CBKC is hosting a vaccination clinic at its retail center, The Shops on Blue Parkway, at 4401 E. Blue Parkway through August 2021 following the Missouri eligibility guidelines. Swope Health officials are vaccinating around 350 people per day and approximately 5,000 people, some traveling two hours or more, have been vaccinated since the clinic began mid-February. Appointments are required. You can check your eligibility and schedule your shot by calling 877-435-8411 or visiting https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator/.
CBKC Celebrates 30 Years of Accomplishments
“If you can dig a hole, you can do a deal.” This was the motto of R. (Rochester) Charles (Chuck) Gatson, the visionary who became the heart, soul and leader of Community Builders of Kansas City that the inspired Frank Ellis founded in 1991.
Gatson, who died in 2014 at the age of 64, was intentional that those holes and deals be transformative for the people and places in our urban community – improving education, health and housing; growing financial literacy, wealth and entrepreneurship; introducing new development and access to supportive services.
In 2021, CBKC’s 30th anniversary year, the organization is the largest, most resourced minority-led community development corporation in the region and is one of the most successful, minority-initiated community development corporations in the U.S. Included in its results:
- $250 million investment in urban renewal projects since 1991
- $80 million in residential and commercial real estate assets under management
- 600 units of renovated and new construction apartments for families, seniors and those with special needs
- 250,000 square feet – newly constructed office and retail space
Community Builders of Kansas City has grown to become a strong, stable and experienced community development corporation with the right combination of mission and business acumen to serve urban neighborhoods. In the last year alone, CBKC has:
- Hosted nearly a dozen community events that included free COVID-19 testing, flu shots, food and diaper drives; food and staffing to support election board workers, voter registration and absentee ballot notarization for the November 3 election; provided space and other support for the 2020 census count; as well as community events – Movie Night at Starlight partnering with Kansas City Public Schools and a free outdoor Kansas City Symphony concert.
- Announced The Rochester on Blue Parkway, an 81,400-square-foot, $12.6 project with 64 residential units across four stories – the first market-rate, multi-family development east of Prospect in generations.
- Unveiled the $84.5 million mixed-use Offices at Overlook that on completion includes 160,000 square feet of office, 12,000 square feet of retail and the potential for a 140-unit apartment.
- Acquired the Blue Parkway Sun Fresh grocery store and immediately embarked on improvements to product, pricing, customer service, physical appearance and the addition of allied services and conveniences.
- Secured funding to initiate the $12.6 million renovation of The Cleveland – 80, three-bedroom, one and one-half bath mixed-income residences.
“Community Builders of Kansas City does what it says it is going to do,” said Emmet Pierson, Jr., president and CEO. “As just one example, CBKC was the first recipient of Central City Economic Develop (CCED) one-eighth-cent sales tax fund recipients to complete its promised project in 2018, a $628,000 renovation that preserved the 5008 Prospect building as a community asset – serving as a small business incubator for predominantly MBE/WBE businesses, providing offices for like-minded organizations and offering training and development for entrepreneurial and career-mind community members.
“Community Builders has a develop-and-hold model, which allows us to make a difference in our communities over the long term. We are carrying out Mr. Gatson’s original vision to reclaim urban neighborhoods that have experienced heavy disinvestment and abandonment over time, transforming them into vibrant, thriving, safe communities.”
It’s not easy. There is a circular rationale among banks, their boards, appraisers and the regulatory communities that leads to less favorable lending terms to the brown- and Black-owned business, -developer or -led organization. The resulting higher interest rates, equity requirements and other less favorable loan terms says to an organization like CBKC that we are not as dependable or trustworthy so we will have to prove with this project that we will be successful, again, as we have been previously. We hope this will change and, but in the meanwhile, we press on.
CBKC is the master developer for the Brush Creek Corridor from Elmwood Avenue west to Highway 71. The organization adheres to the “catalyst for redevelopment” standard where it successfully leverages public and private investment in projects, adding new initiatives – like The Rochester and the Offices at Overlook on Blue Parkway – to extend and protect the investment.
The merger in June 2018 with Blue Hills Community Services brought with it the 5008 Prospect building and CBKC’s promise to the neighborhood that it would continue operation of the incubator and add community services. The CCED-funded renovations helped CBKC fulfill that promise and it is leveraging this anchor asset for future investment along Prospect Avenue.
More recently, CBKC has entered into non-traditional lines of business such as participating as an equity partner with other minority developers. The organization also is actively pursuing the launch of additional, in-house services as well as an initiative to more directly address the wealth gap between minority and majority households.
Community Builders’ projects provide employment for hundreds; safe and quality homes for 2,000 at any one time; and the kind of retail, dining, grocery, banking, health and social services essential to a good quality of life. It’s a good landlord, maintaining and renovating properties as needed which delivers the 95 percent or better average occupancy of its multi-family residential rental units and the 100 percent occupancy of its 4001 Blue Parkway Office Building.
Increasingly, CBKC is sought for its thought leadership on the wide range of issues that impact Black and brown people. Pierson and other professional staff are regularly invited locally and nationally to speak, serve on a panel, comment on or chart a course to help dislodge entrenched obstacles and disadvantages faced daily in our urban communities.
“We’re a little less patient now,” said Pierson. “We are proud of all that has been accomplished in the last 30 years but we need to do all that and more, faster. Tomorrow. CBKC has proven itself. We do the difficult, dragging others in as we must to have the support we need to extend opportunity to communities and people left behind because of systemic racism and poverty. That is both our legacy and our future.”
Introducing EastPointe Realty: CBKC’s New Real Estate Brokerage and Property Management Firm
EastPointe Realty, established in November 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC), will double the number of multi-family properties under its management in its first full year of operation. As a full-service real estate brokerage firm specializing in property management, EastPointe serves the commercial and multi-family markets.
“EastPointe manages, leases, sells and provides consulting services in all sectors of real estate,” said Irving Blue, EastPointe’s president. “The difference is our We Care approach. Our residents and commercial clients experience our motto in our daily actions that show service matters to us.”
Blue said that EastPointe took on management of its first multi-family property February 1 and will have more than 1,100 CBKC-owned and third-party multi-family units across 15 properties under management throughout Missouri by the end of 2021.
“It is part of CBKC’s strategic intent to build capacity, therefore taking on more ownership in managing and directing the organization’s residential and commercial portfolio became my focus when I started in August of 2020,” Blue added. “Within CBKC we had the desire, real estate management expertise and sensitivity to provide high quality management services.”
The firm has 20 employees. That number will grow as EastPointe adds properties to its management portfolio. Blue said it is part of EastPointe’s vision to have 5,000 multi-family units across multiple states under management. “At that volume, we would still have the ability to extend our We Care culture into those communities, visit them and maintain that personal touch,” he added.
EastPointe is one of the few minority-led, full-service real estate companies in Missouri. Blue, with a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in urban and regional planning, is also a licensed REALTOR® in Missouri and one of the only African Americans in Missouri who is a certified property manager (CPM) through the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).
A 2020 article in Commercial Property Executive cited a 2017 study by Bella Research Group and the Knight Foundation. It found that “… more than 75 percent of senior executive jobs in the U.S. commercial real estate industry were held by white men, while only 1.3 percent were held by Black men.” An earlier article in Multi-Family Executive reported much the same, “… the number of women and minorities in leadership roles at multifamily and commercial real estate companies remains stubbornly low—well below 20 percent for women and in the single digits for minorities.”
Blue agrees that Black leadership in residential or commercial real estate is uncommon. “You rarely see people of color with my industry credentials, much less running a real estate business,” he said. “EastPointe Realty is an extension of what anyone will find in CBKC – a well-run, financially performing organization dedicated to being engaged with and in service to its communities.”
While EastPointe Realty brings special expertise to managing and serving its residents and owners in the urban core, good, responsive management that generates the needed financial return is welcomed anywhere.
“It’s not rocket science but it seems to be complex for other firms to care, be responsive, work to make your residents home or work life better, understand the business and still have each property perform,” said Blue. “We Care. That’s even in our email address, epr-wecare.com. It is a high bar but that is our standard; it is what we expect of ourselves.”
The Cleveland
The Cleveland, Community Builders of Kansas City’s (CBKC) $12.6 million rehabilitation of its very first catalytic project, The Mt. Cleveland Initiative, will get underway this summer with renovation of 70 duplexes and 10 townhomes and the addition of a community building. The project will transition these multi-family communities from fully affordable to mixed-income and will solidify an already strong residential hub of a much larger, CBKC-led development footprint. The rehabilitation project will complete by yearend 2022.
“CBKC is an invest, build and hold organization and this project is a testament to that commitment,” said Shannon Hesterberg, CBKC director of real estate development. “Stabilizing and keeping assets in prime condition is our hallmark. The rehabilitation of The Cleveland will be an asset to CBKC’s other developments including the headquarters campus, grocery and retail center; the $12 million market-rate, multi-family project The Rochester; and the $80 million Offices at Overlook office, retail and multi-family district that will transform the corner of Swope Parkway and Chestnut Avenue.”
Located between Cleveland Avenue and Mersington Way off 51st Street, The Cleveland will combine what has been two separate properties – Mt. Cleveland Heights built in 1997 and Mt. Cleveland Townhomes built in 2004 – into one entity developed by CBKC which will own it along with other affiliates and serve as general partner. CBKC subsidiary EastPointe Realty will manage The Cleveland.
These are family properties, all of which feature three-bedroom, one- and one-half bath units, ranging in size from 1,039 to 1,276 square feet with an attached garage. The affordable unit rents will range from $520 to $800 while the market-rate units will range from $928 to $941.
“A meaningful advantage to residents of this mixed-use development is that if their income grows, they can stay in the community,” said Hesterberg. “In fully affordable multi-family properties, if you make too much money, you have to move out. In The Cleveland, all the units are the same, so you can stay but transition to the market rate rent.”
While they have been very successful, the Mt. Cleveland residences are 20 years old and in need of significant investment. On the exterior, all roofs and, as needed, siding, railings, windows and sills will be replaced. For the interiors, basically all will have replaced and upgraded HVAC systems, flooring, kitchen cabinets and appliances, bath cabinets and fixtures with fresh paint throughout.
The properties have had minimal security issues but improvements will include additional lighting outside the units, cameras and operational adjustments to security patrols, as necessary.
“The residents are really excited about the addition of a 3,400-square-foot, $526,000 community building,” added Hesterberg. “It will house the property management office and maintenance shop as well as a space for classes, a computer room, exercise and a flex area for hosting small meetings or birthday parties.”
Horizon Housing Foundation (HHF) will lead the provision of social services to residents. Tailored to the needs and interests of The Cleveland, HHF’s services will address youth education and mentoring, health and wellness, educational supplies and resources, food assistance, financial literacy as well as computer and internet accessibility.
Unique to this development will be a relationship with Beta Lambda Educational Institute, which will include student mentoring, access to an annual tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and ACT prep classes. Swope Health Services will partner in serving residents as will other providers such as Catholic Charities.
The Cleveland project brings CBKC full circle on the original, 70-acre Mt. Cleveland initiative that has since generated more than $150 million of investment. It began in the 90s when Swope Health Services saw a need for an urban core-based substance abuse treatment center while the adjacent Mt. Cleveland Neighborhood wanted to organize and start neighborhood development planning. Out of the health center’s commitment to aid in Mt. Cleveland’s revitalization, came the established of CBKC and 30 years of work that has yielded:
- A substance abuse treatment center
- Swope Health Central, a 143,000-square-foot, $18 million facility
- A child and family development center
- Mt. Cleveland Heights and Townhomes 80 multi-family housing units with new public infrastructure
- Development of basic services including a supermarket, bank, post office and other stores and services absent in Kansas City’s urban neighborhoods
- Expanded office space and retail services
- Transportation services that are directly linked to the city’s public transportation departments
- Infill single-family homes for mixed-income families
The development team is made up of professionals with deep experience in multi-family, low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects and includes Straub Construction, Rosemann & Associates PC architects, EastPointe Realty, LLC for leasing and tax credit compliance, Hardwick Law Firm, RCT Investments LLC as consultant and Raymond James as the federal LIHTC investor and Sugar Creek Capital as the state LIHTC investor.
CBKC, formed in 1991 as a joint initiative of community, public and private sector leaders, has as its mission to change the landscape by igniting and fueling equity, access, opportunity and advocacy. The Cleveland $12.6 million rehabilitation project is right in CBKC’s wheelhouse.
CBKC Serves Hundreds at November Free Food, Diapers, Flu Shot and COVID-19 Testing Drive Thru
The chill and light rain did not dampen the spirits of the dozens of volunteers and the hundreds of community members served during the drive through event distributing free diapers and food as well as the administration of free flu shots and COVID-19 tests hosted by Community Builders of Kansas City in mid-November.
Set up in the parking area of the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center at 3700 Blue Parkway, the well-organized event routed cars through two lanes – those wanting only the food and/or diapers and a second lane for those wanting food and/or diapers plus a flu vaccine and/or COVID-19 test.
“It was a very gratifying event,” said DaRon McGee, community and government relations manager for CBKC. “Our volunteers and partners are the best and it was rewarding to be able to meet a need for so many of our community members.” McGee said those giving of their time included volunteers from Blue Parkway Sun Fresh Market, Catholic Charities, Greater Kansas City AFL/CIO, Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades, Happy Bottoms, Harvesters, Jackson County, Missouri, LiUNA! and Swope Health.
The line of community members participating in the drive through wound around the entire block – Cleveland Avenue to Cleaver II to Benton Boulevard and along Blue Parkway stretching east as far as the eye could see. Some of the stats of those served include:
- 558 households
- 994 adults
- 957 children
- 227 seniors
- 14,225 diapers for 373 children
November’s drive-through was the latest CBKC-organized community outreach. It followed a number of other free, pandemic-sensitive, socially-distanced events hosted with partner organizations and enabled by a legion of volunteers all geared to meet the practical needs of its community in the areas of food, health and social engagement:
July 18 Free Food Distribution and COVID-19 Testing Drive Through
September 11 Movie Night at Starlight
October 3 Kansas City Symphony at CBKC
With several community partners, CBKC is hosting a free COVID testing and flu shot event at the Robert J. Mohart Center at 32nd & Wayne Avenue on December 19th.
“Community service and advocacy is core to the CBKC mission,” said McGee. “These kinds of events are the outward representation of our heart for this community.”