The St. Anthony Organizing Committee Demonstrates Power in Action!

Community leaders and public officials tour blighted homes in Northeast neighborhood.

The St. Anthony Catholic parish organizing committee, in partnership with the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood, demonstrated the incredible power a community wieldswhen neighbors come together for a common cause. The St. Anthony Catholic parish is a member of Communities Creating Opportunity.

After repeatedly hearing concerns about blighted buildings in the neighborhood, the St. Anthony Catholic parish organizing committee created a ten-page list of properties that were abandoned or in disrepair. 

They then organized a tour of the neighborhood for Codes Enforcement, Legal Aid, Community Interaction Officers, and other neighborhood groups. The tour highlighted the overwhelming need for revitalization in the neighborhood.

Less than one month after the tour, the St. Anthony organizing committee is proud to announce the following accomplishments:

• Forty-five properties were identified as being in violation of housing codes.
• Forty of those properties now have open cases that inspectors will be following up on this month.
• Six vacant structures were boarded up.
• Four properties have been slated for demolition this summer.
• One vacant property was emptied of its illegal inhabitants (who were engaging in criminal activities) by the police.
• One block has been identified as a target block for urban homesteading and holistic revitalization.
• The Department of Neighborhood Preservation already has crews out mowing and clearing weeds, and they have promised transparency in the court process so that residents may track the progress of codes violation cases.

For nearly 30 years the St. Anthony organizing committee has been working to create a safe community for northeast Kansas City neighborhoods.