🌟 Our Mission: Improving life in Northeast Wyandotte County through revitalization and economic development.
🏠 Creating vibrant neighborhoods with affordable housing and compassionate services.
📍 Kansas City, KS | Est. 1994 The Mount Carmel Redevelopment Corporation (MCRC) was formed in 1994 to serve as the catalyst for revitalization of the Mount Carmel neighborhood located in the heart of Kansas
City, Kansas. Working with stakeholders, residents, business owners in the community and a professional Urban Planner, MCRC developed a Master Plan for redevelopment of a four square block area. The long-range master redevelopment plan for this area -- bounded by 11th Street on the east, 13th Street on the west, Parallel Parkway on the north, and Garfield Avenue on the south -- includes for construction of 48 new single family homes targeted to low, moderate and middle income buyers. MCRC is uniquely designed to provide holistic services to its community. There is a broad range of human and social services offered to our clients. Those services include a food pantry, utility assistance, rental/mortgage assistance; strengths based case management, crisis intervention, budget counseling, information and referral, academic and employment testing, youth mentoring, motivation and education, a tutorial program, transitional living, client advocacy, senior citizen outreach, and recovering substance support. MCRC also engages in partnership with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas to manage the largest food kitchen in the area, known as the Wilhelmina Gill Multi-Service Center. Transitional Housing represents a very large portion of services provided by MCRC. Excellence begins with our staff that is well trained and carries the heart and spirit necessary to assist and encourage. The program is designed to empower homeless families with children by providing the allotted time and support necessary to get them back on their feet and into a permanent housing arrangement. To date, MCRC owns and operates four duplexes which is equivalent to providing 42 beds for the homeless. Along with housing, each family is automatically enrolled into our case management program where they receive budget counseling and are taught life skills for healthy living. Carmel Redevelopment Corporation is designated as a Community-Based Housing Development Organization (CHDO). A “CHDO” (pronounced “CHO-DOE”) is a special status to nonprofit community organizations engaged in housing development activities that benefit low and moderate income families. As such, MCRC is committed to maintaining accountability to low-income community residents by: (1) Reserving at least one-third of its governing board’s membership for residents of low-income neighborhoods, other low-income community residents, or elected representatives of low-income neighborhood organizations; (2) Providing a formal process for low-income program beneficiaries to advise the organization in its decisions regarding the design, location, development, and management of affordable housing. Carmel Redevelopment is a member of the Wyandotte County Homeless Coalition and the Wyandotte County Emergency Assistance Coalition. The organization plays a major role in the Kansas City, Kansas Continuum of Care. Through its Community Outreach department, MCRC receives referrals from area shelters, 43 agencies that make-up the Wyandotte County Emergency Assistance Coalition, Outreach Caseworkers (currently funded by HUD), churches and the homeless themselves. MCRC was designated as a Promise Site. MCRC was one of “Kansas City Promise” initial Promise Makers in 1998, when the community pledged to make the concerns of children, youth and their families a priority. MCRC joined others in the area with the commitment to make sure that all metro area children have access to the resources they need to succeed in life. MCRC is a 501(c)(3) community development corporation with a volunteer Board of Directors from varied professional backgrounds. Our uniqueness lies in the fact that the CDC has united community revitalization, or the brick and mortar aspect of its community redevelopment corporation, with its human services. MCRC has a matrix of programs to carry out its mission.
