From the time I was a child growing up in Kansas City’s Ivanhoe neighborhood, I knew the importance of community connections. In 1998, I started buying decaying buildings near my childhood home. From urban blight, I eventually created Harris Park (HP), a four-acre park with a children’s playground, picnic areas, and outdoor recreation facilities for volleyball, pickleball, and basketball. HP uses healthful, positive recreation and sports to draw patrons of all ages into participation in programming that strengthens our sense of community, leading to a safer, cleaner environment, social interaction and support, and providing enrichment and a higher quality of life.
My time as a student at UMKC helped prepare me to run HP. Juggling multiple finals in one week taught me the time management required for the real world and how to handle multiple priorities, which is required as the Executive Director of HP. My hope for UMKC in the future is further investment in communities east of Troost, such as Ivanhoe, so that youth in my neighborhood see themselves as future Roos.