Last Week's Meeting

Rotary 13 members and invited guests gathered on the bottom floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1301 Wyandotte Street with select individuals participating remotely via Zoom. President Neil Barnett brought the assembly to order at 12:15pm. The group stood for the Pledge of Allegiance and Kelly Collins shared an invocation that expressed gratitude for stroke recovery, the work of Rotary, and serving the needs of others. There were no guests in attendance, apart from our featured speaker profiled below.

 

Past President Tony Andresen announced the start of the annual campaign in support of Club 13’s foundation. The Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation (KCFCF) disperses operating support to the Rotary Youth Camp and requires annual gifts to keep the corpus intact. The handout sheet on the lunch tables details how single or recurring contributions can be made. In this month of October only, there is an anonymous match of up to $200 for gifts to the foundation.

 

Peter Ho recapped this year’s Bolte Beer Bash. About 20 club members and a spouse or two gathered for fellowship and raised $775 in support of the Rotary Youth Camp. Tom Davis spoke to encourage participation at the District Foundation Dinner on November 6^th. The Carriage Club will host the 6pm event; the few remaining seats are available for $250. A sign-up sheet for the weekly bagel run circulated the room during announcements, with Kandi Kos available for questions. The Project Cure service opportunity on October 15^th requires both registration and downloaded directions to the ‘caves’ where they work. Lastly, Tom Woolwine lead the gathered group in singing the birthday song for those members born in October.

 

President Neil called for Happy Bucks. They were given in recognition of David McCaughey’s receipt of the Silver Beaver Award from the Heart of America scouting council, for stroke survival and recovery, for a 38^th wedding anniversary, and for the Hit for Haiti fundraiser this weekend.

 

At 12:32 President Neil then asked for the introduction of today’s presenter, Brandon Calloway of KC GIFT. Past President Tony spoke about how he came to know Mr. Calloway. He has addressed Club 13 once before, some 6 years ago. An Army veteran and alumnus of Avila University, Mr. Calloway developed an ongoing interest in civil rights and community development. Generating Income For Tomorrow (GIFT) focuses on closing the racial wealth gap in Kansas City. Their primary vehicle is to identify black-owned businesses located in black neighborhoods and provide them grant support and consulting services.

 

Mr. Calloway explained the ongoing nature of Troost Avenue as a statistical dividing line in our city. Poverty and crime rates vary widely on either side of that road, leaving Kansas City with the federal designation of ‘hyper-segregated”, a status it shares with 20-plus other large American cities. Calling attention to and complaining about this troubling circumstance is not doing enough, in the eyes of those who founded KC GIFT in 2020. The solution of encouraging commercial activity east of Troost motivated them to provide grants ranging between $10K and $40K to established businesses located there, combined with marketing, accounting, and legal services. To date, they have funded 86 firms through $2MM in grants, creating some 165 jobs. Visible success stories include Vine Street Brewing and Sweet Peaches Cobblers.

 

The staff of eight at KC GIFT also operates a walk-in business consulting service. Located at 50^th Street and Prospect Avenue, the center has received over 11K visits to date. A testimonial video from Ember and Bloom spoke to the strength of the consultation advice on business success. In a sentence, KC GIFT believes that fighting poverty fights crime.

 

Questions for Mr. Calloway began at 12:49, and included grant success rate (at present, 66 of the businesses with funding support are still going concerns); selecting firms to serve (the basic filter is established, black-owned, located east of Troost); the grant application review process (conducted directly by the board of GIFT); and his personal story (attended Paseo High School, completed a stint in the Army, moved from gym management to United Way work). Additional questions included the relationships between KC GIFT and SBA/SDA (they’re on good terms) and with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (they have received funding support); and why GIFT favors grants instead of micro-loans (loans don’t move fast enough, and have a smaller reach; importantly, loan policies have a history of perpetuating the racial wealth gap.)

 

President Neil thanked our speaker and noted these upcoming events:

The 4-Way Test closed the session, followed by the bell at 13:00.