Gwen Grant, president and CEO at Urban League of Greater Kansas City, has been a friend to and fan of Community Builders of Kansas City for decades. As the long-time leader of the Urban League – both a civil rights and social services organization – Grant appreciates CBKC’s work.
“CBKC is the premier community development corporation serving neighborhoods and communities east of Troost and has a stellar track record for doing phenomenal work bringing affordable housing, retail and commercial projects to life,” she said. “Without CBKC, we would have very little economic development in the urban core. It’s unfortunate that there is not more support from the city to address the persistent and pervasive disinvestment in the inner city.”
Grant grew up in the civil rights era and vividly remembers, “My brave mother letting her pre-teen daughter go with church folks on a bus to Washington, D.C., to participate in Solidarity Day.” That was in 1968, not long after the Martin Luther King, Jr., assassination. The event was a positive culmination of weeks of protest on the National Mall by thousands of poor people from all over the country. The estimated 50,000 in attendance on Solidarity Day were there to protest, sing, hear speeches, and demonstrate to bring attention to poverty and spur legislative action to address its effects.
This and many other experiences prepared Grant for the way she approached carrying out the mission of the Urban League – with passion, commitment, energy and courage. Fighting against the odds, she said, has been a calling.
“It has to be a calling, or it would just be too much,” Grant said. “I am driven by wanting life to be better, easier, more equitable for Black people.”
Now in her 24th year as ULKC’s leader, she remains a strong, passionate advocate for economic empowerment and social justice. The organization’s agenda is driven by data captured in the biannual State of Black KC, a critical analysis of education, economics, health, social justice, and civic engagement in relation to race. The 2025 edition will be made public November 1 at the 18th Urban Summit Annual Conference.
What is unchanging is the Urban League’s commitment to transformative programs and services that help mitigate urban core disparities and challenges and improve quality of life. Grant mentioned ULKC’s Accelerated Learning Lab, kicked off again in September after students had a chance to settle in the new school year.
Just one of many of the organization’s education, career and business programs, the Accelerated Learning Lab is not only teaching what the student needs to know now to meet teacher expectations but also thoroughly assesses where a student is and what the work is to close any learning gaps.
“We teach not only what is assigned but we map out a plan for the student so we know with some certainty how long it will take us to get the student where he or she needs to be,” she said. “We see amazing results in short periods of time.”
Efforts to achieve a social and economic balance that stabilizes the Eastside of Kansas City, Missouri, is slower work. Founded more than 100 years ago, the Urban League of Greater Kansas City’s mission – to enable African Americans and other disadvantaged persons to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights – continues.