KC Healhy Kids Receives LISC Grant For Neighborhood Initiative

A big step to gaining more direction to improve the health of a Kansas City, Kan. neighborhood was made when KC Healthy Kids was awarded a NeighborhoodsNOW grant from Greater Kansas City LISC to assist in funding its Douglass-Sumner Healthy Environment Initiative in January.

The LISC grant pays for a community organizer to involve, engage and mobilize the Douglass-Sumner neighborhood to continue the development of a healthier environment which promotes and encourages healthy eating and active living.

KC Healthy Kids will use the funding to enable a serious and coordinated approach to address the lack of access to healthy food and outdoor trails for physical activity facing the community, while expanding and enhancing healthy programming for youth in the neighborhood.

The Douglass-Sumner neighborhood in Kansas City, Kan. is bounded on the east by 7th Street and on the west by 10th Street. The southern boundary is Washington Ave. and the northern boundary is Parallel Parkway.

The Douglass-Sumner community is the third community KC Healthy Kids has focused on it its initiative to reduce childhood obesity. KCHK also works with Ivanhoe in Kansas City, Mo. and Rosedale in Kansas City, Kan.

"We are very thankful to LISC for continuing to support our efforts to reduce childhood obesity through this grant," said Erika Devore, the community and program outreach director for KCHK. "With this funding the direction of our efforts will be enhanced as we work on solutions to improve the health and well-being of people in this community."

"Greater Kansas LISC, through NeighborhoodsNOW, is pleased to provide this important funding to KC Healthy Kids to help improve neighborhood conditions in Douglass-Sumner," said Julie Porter, Greater Kansas City LISC Executive Director. "The grant recipients have secured funding by showing they will provide expertise and innovative services to NeighborhoodsNOW target area."

About KC Healthy Kids
Founded in 2005, KC Healthy Kids pursues a mission to improve the health of Greater Kansas City's children by informing, advocating, and mobilizing the resources and talents of our community to employ healthy eating and active living principles. The organization's primary service area encompasses the 9 counties in Missouri and Kansas that compose the Mid-America Regional Council service area. KC Healthy Kids serves children throughout that area with particular focus on at-risk, urban communities where children have the least access to healthy eating and physical activity opportunities.

About LISC
Greater Kansas City LISC is the local site for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation's largest community development organization. Greater Kansas City LISC supports redevelopment in more than 100 square miles of Kansas City metro area neighborhoods and helps transform them into healthy, sustainable communities in partnership with their residents. Since 1981, Greater Kansas City LISC has invested more than $132 million into urban-core neighborhoods on both sides of the state line, which has leveraged $608 million in total development. This investment has created 942,435 square feet of community facilities and sports fields; 5,858 new and rehabbed homes and apartments; 5,303 minor home repairs; and over1.4 million square feet of retail and commercial space. For more information about Greater Kansas City LISC, go to www.lisc.org/kansascity.