Urban Summit Kansas City

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Urban Summit Kansas City Urban Advocacy, Civic Engagement, and Grassroots Organizing

10/16/2026

No cranes east of Troost. Just a highway. Downtown has the streetcar and the new apartments, but a few blocks east the abandoned houses are still standing. Bishop Tindall asks the question: will the AI boom ever reach us?

10/15/2026

19 lawsuits. Six years since The Star exposed it. Gwen Grant says it’s time to stop studying KCFD’s culture and change who holds the power. Do you agree?

10/14/2026

“It’s not here to take anybody’s job.” Then a machine brought his lunch. 🤖🍽️ An AI expert, our moderator and Bishop Tindall don’t agree on what AI means for your paycheck. Watch the whole exchange and tell us what you think?

10/10/2026

KC fire chief and city manager face backlash at Urban Summit over racism, union power
About 75 people packed the room at Morning Star Community Center, often clapping and cheering in support of the criticism.
Read more in the full story: bit.ly/4ycV2mM

This morning’s Urban Summit, “KCFD: Six Years Later — Who Really Runs the Fire Department?”, was one for the books.We ha...
10/09/2026

This morning’s Urban Summit, “KCFD: Six Years Later — Who Really Runs the Fire Department?”, was one for the books.

We had a packed house at Morning Star Community Center and a strong audience on Zoom. We started together in prayer and then had a frank, direct conversation about accountability, leadership, and the future of the Kansas City Fire Department.

Thank you to our panel for showing up and taking the tough questions:

Gwen Grant, President & CEO, Urban League of Greater Kansas City, and Urban Summit Board Member (moderator)
Craig Buckley, Fire Chief, KCFD
Mario Vasquez, City Manager, City of Kansas City
Lace Cline, Assistant City Manager for Public Safety
Rodney Bland, President, Freedom Inc.

A special thank you to everyone in the room who stepped up to the mic. Your questions, experiences, and passion are what make the Urban Summit what it is. This is what civic engagement looks like: community and leadership at the same table, face to face.

Today was an important step, but the work doesn’t stop here. We’ll keep asking the hard questions and holding leadership accountable until real change comes.

Missed it? Stay tuned for the replay and highlights. 👀

📍 The Urban Summit meets every Friday, 8:30–10:00 AM
🌐 urbansummitkcmo.com

🚨 KCFD: SIX YEARS LATER — WHO REALLY RUNS THE FIRE DEPARTMENT? The City Manager or the Unions?Six years ago, The Kansas ...
10/07/2026

🚨 KCFD: SIX YEARS LATER — WHO REALLY RUNS THE FIRE DEPARTMENT? The City Manager or the Unions?

Six years ago, The Kansas City Star, with help from the Urban League, exposed what Black firefighters, women firefighters, and advocates had been saying for years: KCFD had a deeply entrenched culture of racism, sexism, retaliation, and unequal opportunity.

The City commissioned a cultural assessment. The Mayor and Council promised reform.

So why are we still talking about the same problems?

The City's own 2023 assessment found employees saw KCFD's two firefighter unions as holding extraordinary power: able to block accountability and influence hiring, training, promotions, assignments, and staffing. The Star has also documented the unions' political reach through elections and campaign contributions, including significant support for Councilman and mayoral candidate Crispin Rea.

Unions can participate in politics. The question is whether political influence should determine how a public safety department is governed.

🗓 Friday, Oct. 9 | 8:30–10:00 AM
🏢 Morning Star Community Center, 2525 E. 27th St., KCMO 64127
💻 Join online: via urbansummitkcmo.com

Featured guests:
Mario Vasquez, City Manager, City of Kansas City
Lace Cline, Assistant City Manager
Craig Buckley, Kansas City Fire Chief

We'll ask:
What has changed inside KCFD since 2020?
Who is really in charge, and will the City Manager use his authority to transform the department?
What role do the unions play in promotions, discipline, and assignments?
How should the City balance collective bargaining with accountability?
What has been done to remove barriers for Black firefighters and women?
What protects employees who report misconduct or unsafe practices?
Can KCFD's culture change without changing the power structure that protects it?

The Urban Summit is sounding the 911 alarm again. An emergency response is needed NOW. Six years is long enough to wait.

The AI Revolution is here, and this morning Kansas City showed up ready to talk about it. 🤖✊🏾Thank you to everyone who j...
10/02/2026

The AI Revolution is here, and this morning Kansas City showed up ready to talk about it. 🤖✊🏾

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person at Morning Star Community Center and on Zoom for a powerful conversation: Who Wins? Who Loses? Who Pays?

Our panelists dug into the real costs, real opportunities, and real consequences of artificial intelligence for African Americans and for Kansas City. One message came through clearly: the future isn't coming, it's already here. We have to learn to embrace it, adapt, and make sure our community has a seat at the table as it's built.

Special thanks to our panelists:
🔹 Marques Bussey, Messenger Ink Cosmic Retail + Brand Studio
🔹 Tammy Buckner, WeCode KC
🔹 William Wells, Jr., aSTEAM Village Education Center
🔹 Kenneth Yancy, 3rd Wave Marketing

Also thank you to our facilitators and Urban Summit board members Eric Hawthorne & Tony Vantrece.

Missed it? Visit urbansummitkcmo.com to stay connected for what's next.

THE AI REVOLUTION IS HERE: WHO WINS? WHO LOSES? WHO PAYS?What are the Real Costs, Real Opportunities, and Real Consequen...
09/30/2026

THE AI REVOLUTION IS HERE: WHO WINS? WHO LOSES? WHO PAYS?

What are the Real Costs, Real Opportunities, and Real Consequences of Artificial Intelligence for African Americans and for Kansas City as a Whole?

Artificial intelligence has been sold to us as the next great technological revolution. It will make businesses more efficient, transform health care, revolutionize education, create new industries, and increase productivity. But lately, AI has been making headlines for very different reasons:
Deepfakes that can make people appear to say and do things that never happened.
AI-generated scams and fraud.
Concerns about misinformation becoming nearly indistinguishable from reality.
Questions about cybersecurity and increasingly autonomous AI systems.
Warnings about what unrestricted access to AI may mean for children and young people.
Growing anxiety about what happens to workers when machines can perform tasks that once required people.
Researchers, technology leaders, policymakers, parents, educators, workers, and communities are debating the proliferation of data centers in our communities.

Joining us will be:

Marques Bussey
Founder & Creative Director
Messenger Ink Cosmic Retail + Brand Studio

William Wells, Jr.
Founder & Executive Director
aSTEAM Village Education Center

Kenneth Yancy
Chief AI, Intent Digital Marketing, and Data
3rd Wave Marketing

Urban Summit board members, Eric Hawthorne and Tony VanTrece, will facilitate a serious conversation about what AI means for Kansas City, our economy, our workforce, our children, our infrastructure, and communities that have historically been the last to benefit from technological change. What happens in communities already confronting unemployment, underemployment, and persistent racial wealth disparities?

That may be one of the most important questions we discuss on Friday. We are tired of subsidizing our own exclusion. Black tax dollars cannot keep financing economic development and technological progress while the jobs, ownership, investment, and wealth bypass our communities.

Join us in the room or on Zoom. You don’t want to miss this conversation.

09/25/2026

"12 self-defense shootings declined for charges in a single month. 3 trials taken to a jury — 3 losses." And the prosecutor herself says the people dying under Missouri's stand-your-ground law are overwhelmingly Black and Brown.

Public Safety on Prospect, Trouble in the Neighborhoods & What Jackson County COMBAT Is Doing About CrimeURBAN SUMMIT | ...
09/23/2026

Public Safety on Prospect, Trouble in the Neighborhoods & What Jackson County COMBAT Is Doing About Crime
URBAN SUMMIT | Friday, September 25th | 8:30–10:00 a.m.
In-Person at Morning Star Community Center, 2525 E. 27th Street, Kansas City, MO, or Join Virtually via urbansummitkcmo.com

We've worked hard to improve safety along the Prospect Corridor: stronger enforcement, addressing problem liquor stores, cleaning up properties, and tackling chronic nuisances. People on Prospect deserve the same safety as every other part of Kansas City.

But what happens when the problem doesn't disappear? What happens when it simply moves?

Santa Fe neighborhood residents say loitering, trash, suspected drug activity, prostitution, theft, and disorder are now showing up on residential streets, especially around Victor Street. They've contacted service providers and City officials asking for solutions.

Marquita Taylor said: "This is not a one-and-done situation. We need the same force and attention." She is right.

PART ONE: FROM PROSPECT TO THE NEIGHBORHOODS
The Prospect Corridor Public Safety Task Force joins the Urban Summit with updates from United Market, law enforcement, and Bluford Library, and concerns from Santa Fe.

We'll confront hard questions: Have our efforts solved problems or displaced them? What happens when services for vulnerable people are concentrated in residential areas without addressing the impact on families there? How do we balance compassion for people who need food, shelter, and treatment with residents' right to safe, clean, peaceful communities? And most importantly: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR FIXING IT?

PART TWO: WHERE DO OUR COMBAT DOLLARS GO?
Murray Woodard, Executive Director of Jackson County COMBAT, and Deputy Director Dawna Shumate will discuss the program ahead of the COMBAT tax renewal on the November ballot.

What does COMBAT fund? How much goes to violence prevention, treatment, law enforcement, and community organizations? What measurable impact is it having? How can neighborhoods access its resources?

Bring your questions before Election Day. Join us Friday.

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