Every six months Travois is pleased to offer our property’s billboards free of charge to highlight our Kansas City neighborhood nonprofit groups. I am especially thrilled to introduce you to our newest group Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) — a network of faith communities in Kansas City that organizes around social issues and trains volunteers to advocate for change.
CCO is a faith-based non-partisan organization focused on four primary initiatives:
- The Campaign for Economic Dignity to end predatory lending practices in Missouri;
- Making healthy people and healthy places a viable option for all with the Movement for Health Access and Equity;
- Lifelines to hope and healing for marginalized populations, including immigrant communities and ex-offenders; and
- Bringing meaningful citizenship reform.
My friend Eva Schulte is the executive director at CCO and works tirelessly to improve the lives of people in Kansas City and across the country. You may have read about the efforts to “cap the rate” to bring payday loan rates down to more reasonable levels and “raise the wage” to bring Missouri’s minimum wage to $8.25 to help working families.
Most recently, CCO organized a rally to draw attention to the need for immigration reform and the plight of Jose Sandoval, a Kansas City man deported to Mexico and highlighted in an opinion piece in the Kansas City Star on Feb. 2, 2014. These are only a few examples of the important work CCO is doing in Kansas City.
The economic downturn of the last few years has made it very difficult for many individuals and families to dream of a better life, but Eva and CCO are working to change that.
I encourage you to learn more about COO and its work at www.cco.org. They host an annual fundraiser, and this year’s “Soul of the City” event is from 6 to 9 p.m. April 26. I hope to see you there!