Black business owners transforming Kansas City share their stories of success, joy

While chatting with a former Kansas City council member at Equal Minded Cafe one day this past spring, I overheard the 26-year-old owner Dontavious Young telling a customer about being a troubled Black kid from Iowa who came to open this cool coffee shop and meeting spot on Troost Avenue.

I immediately thought: Everyone should hear him tell his story. And I wondered how many other inspiring stories like his might be out there, especially among Kansas City’s more underrepresented residents.

I shared my eavesdropping experience with a Kansas City Star colleague. It dawned on us both that stories like the one Young told in his cafe are what folks who’ve been meeting with us to talk about coverage say they crave.

We found several other Black owners of businesses to share their experiences with us in their own words. Today we are launching the first part of that new project – Voices of Kansas City – created in partnership with Kansas City GIFT (Generating Income for Tomorrow), a Black-founded nonprofit that supports Black-owned businesses, and KKFI 90.1 FM community radio station.

Over four weeks, we will be highlighting the voices of these small-business owners through written question-and-answer pieces, photos, videos and radio broadcasts.

Here’s why we’re doing it:

This year The Star sought to pursue a number of projects that would carry forth a commitment that the news organization made two years ago to improve the way it reports on those communities whose voices for decades had not been adequately highlighted.

After publishing a project in December 2020 – The Truth in Black and White – in which The Star apologized for decades of poorly representing the voices of the Black community, we decided to start our efforts to do better by focusing first on segments of Black Kansas City.

Star reporters and editors interviewed eight of these small business owners, including Young, in a studio at GIFT on Prospect Avenue.

From a young woman with a metro area delivery service to a local filmmaker who tapped into lessons learned from his grandmother to start an innovative urban farm on the edge of the city’s historic jazz district, and more, each one was eager to share stories of struggle, triumph and joy.

“It’s an honor,” said Damesha Cook, owner of Dash Delivery service. “No one has ever reached out to me and offered me such an opportunity. I’m so excited that someone thought of my business and that I was important enough to be heard, to share my journey.”

We were introduced to Cook and the others by GIFT CEO and co-founder Brandon Calloway, who was thrilled to be a part of the project.

“There is a wide range of Black-owned businesses in Kansas City,” he said. “At a regional level, I think it is important to shine a light on our underutilized assets, which are these Black-owned businesses. It is good for the city to see and hear about the gems we have here.”

The interviews will be presented on The Star website in the Q-and-A format to share the entrepreneurs’ stories in their own words.

At noon on Fridays starting Sept. 22, KKFI listeners will hear the interviews on “The Voices of Kansas City” show airing on 90.1 FM.

It made sense to partner with KKFI, an independent, non-commercial, nonprofit and volunteer-based community radio station. Our mission with this project aligns well with the station’s, which is to reflect the diversity in our local communities.

“It is important to KKFI that community voices that don’t otherwise get heard be given a place where they are heard,” said Kelly Dougherty, director of development and communications at the station. “This collaboration gives an even larger audience for these voices, and we are humbled and honored to share in this.”

As for the timing, KKFI already had plans to add new programming this season “to even better represent the area communities we serve,” Mark Manning, chair of the station’s programming committee, told The Star when we called and asked them to join this project.

All of us recognize that storytelling and listening are powerful tools when it comes to connecting communities. And I agree with the GIFT CEO that if nobody is talking and nobody’s listening, nothing broken gets fixed and nothing thriving gets support. We can’t move forward, can’t grow, can’t unite.

Voices of Kansas City is supported in-part by a grant from the American Press Institute to further The Star’s mission of engaging and reflecting the Kansas City community.

We hope Kansas City will be as inspired by “The Voices of Kansas City,” as I was hearing Young tell his customer how he overcame adversity to find success in our city.

Hear their stories

• Meet the Black entrepreneur giving back to Kansas City, one cup of chai at a time

• Small deliveries, big impact: How this KC entrepreneur started her own moving company

Nominate a neighbor

We are planning future “Voices of Kansas City” seasons and want to hear from you about the Kansas Citians who you think more folks in the metro area should know about.

We are looking for individuals or groups who are making a positive impact on our community. Maybe there is a teacher in your child’s school who is changing their approach to learning. Or a neighbor who is rallying everyone on block to support each other when times are tough.

We are especially interested to hear about individuals or groups who come from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented by The Star.

Have questions about this effort? Reach out to Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity issues, at mdwilliams@kcstar.com.

Tell us about someone you know by filling out this form.

This story was originally published September 17, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

Mará Rose Williams

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4419

Mará Rose Williams is The Star’s Senior Opinion Columnist. She previously was assistant managing editor for race & equity issues, a member of the Star’s Editorial Board and an award-winning columnist. She has written on all things education for The Star since 1998, including issues of inequity in education, teen suicide, universal pre-K, college costs and racism on university campuses. She was a writer on The Star’s 2020 “Truth in Black and White” project and the recipient of the 2021 Eleanor McClatchy Award for exemplary leadership skills and transformative journalism.