10 Kansas City changemakers fostering local progress

The curated articles highlight how local leaders, volunteers, and organizations create change within Kansas City. They focus on health, education, small business, public activism, and affordable housing. These efforts often involve collaboration and problem-solving to address community needs.

One article describes a city program that pays businesses, artists, and chefs to fill empty storefronts before the World Cup. Another article shows parents running for the Olathe school board to influence local education. A different piece follows a real estate developer who builds affordable homes on vacant lots in Kansas City, Kansas. One article explains how school students advocate to save a neighborhood orchard from being turned into a parking lot.

These stories show people connecting resources to solve challenges, supporting neighbors, and influencing public decisions. Civic engagement, innovation, and partnership remain central to their impact on health, schools, and small businesses.

Graduate piano student Naren Palomino Pardo, who is an artist-in-residence at Claridge Court, a senior living community, played the piano for residents on Monday, October 13, 2025, in Prairie Village. Resident Jim Hotchkiss, 97, was among those watching the performance. Palomino Pardo, a native of Bolivia, is studying at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory and lives within the senior community. By Tammy Ljungblad

NO. 1: WHY A UMKC PIANIST LIVES ALONGSIDE RETIREES IN JOHNSON COUNTY: ‘MUSIC CHOSE ME’

When Narem Palomino Pardo isn’t studying for his master’s at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, performing with the UMKC Conservatory Wind Symphony or practicing the piano, you might find him in an unusual position: | Published October 19, 2025 | Read Full Story by Joseph Hernandez

Kansas City hopes to fill empty storefronts with businesses during the World Cup through a program that would subsidize their rent and offer grants of up to $10,000. By Eric Adler

NO. 2: KC TO PAY FOR BUSINESSES TO OCCUPY EMPTY STOREFRONTS AS WORLD CUP PROGRAM BEGINS

Are you an artist, maybe a chef, or small business looking for a place to put your wares before what is expected to be Kansas City’s thousands of World Cup visitors? | Published October 15, 2025 | Read Full Story by Eric Adler

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Demonstrators rally on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at Mill Creek Park in Kansas City as part of nationwide “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration. Protesters dressed up in costumes and brought signs showing their displeasure. By Dominick Williams

NO. 3: ‘NO KINGS’ 2.0 RALLY TAKES OVER KANSAS CITY ON NATIONWIDE DAY OF TRUMP PROTESTS

Throngs of Kansas City-area residents took their outrage and fear to the streets Saturday, along with their signs and costumes, for No Kings demonstrations that blanketed the metro. | Published October 19, 2025 | Read Full Story by Matthew Kelly, Eleanor Nash, PJ Green, Kendrick Calfee

Pendleton Heights Community School student Jenny Haluck hugs a fig tree at the community orchard on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Kansas City. Students are advocating to preserve the orchard, which could be replaced by a parking lot. By Emily Curiel

NO. 4: STUDENTS PICK PAWPAWS AT THIS ORCHARD IN KC. IT COULD BECOME A PARKING LOT

School kids who walk to their local orchard in Pendleton Heights to pick pears, figs and pawpaws could soon see the community garden get paved over with a fresh parking lot. | Published October 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Chris Higgins

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Heatherstone Elementary, above, is among Olathe’s 51 schools. Three Olathe parents are running for the school board in November.

NO. 5: THREE OLATHE PARENTS RUN FOR SCHOOL BOARD, EAGER TO CONTINUE THEIR WORK

All the candidates /in the Olathe school board race/ have children in the Olathe school district and want to help lead and make decisions for kids across the city. | Published October 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Laura Bauer

Amanda Gehin, an assistant natural history biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, spotted this rare white Monarch butterfly in her backyard in Kansas City Friday, Oct. 3.

NO. 6: RARE BUTTERFLY FOUND IN KANSAS CITY: A GHOST OR GENETIC ANOMALY?

A member of the Missouri Department of Conservation spotted an animal in Kansas City that’s can usually beseen 4,000 miles away. | Published October 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Joseph Hernandez

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Demonstrators rally Saturday at Mill Creek Park in Kansas City as part of nationwide “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration. By Dominick Williams

NO. 7: ‘NO KINGS’ RALLIES RETURN TO KC AS PEOPLE NATIONWIDE PROTEST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

For the second time this year, Kansas City’s Mill Creek Park is the site of a rally in protest of President Donald Trump’s administration. | Published October 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Kendrick Calfee, PJ Green, Eleanor Nash

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Alexandria Dwight and her son, Legend El, at The Rock at Stony Point Learning Center. President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing a budget proposal that would cut funding for Head Start. By Dominick Williams

NO. 8: KC-AREA CHILD CARE SITES WILL CLOSE IF FEDERAL SHUTDOWN CONTINUES, LEADERS WARN

Thousands of families in the Kansas City area could face a sudden end to their child care if the federal government shutdown continues. | Published October 17, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ilana Arougheti

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Fran Sutton, a real estate broker-turned-developer in Kansas City, Kansas, on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. Sutton is trying to address a local housing shortage by tapping into some of the more than 4,300 vacant and abandoned lots that KCK has in its land bank. By Dominick Williams

NO. 9: SHE’S BUILDING 25 HOMES ON KCK VACANT LOTS THAT PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD. HOW?

When Fran Sutton stands at 21st Street and Quindaro Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas, she doesn’t see abandoned land. | Published October 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Sofi Zeman

A COVID-19 vaccination booster shot at the clinic in Kansas City, Kansas. By Rich Sugg

NO. 10: FLU, WHOOPING COUGH CASES ON THE RISE IN KANSAS CITY

The Kansas City Health Department is urging residents to get vaccinated against influenza and pertussis as cases rise in the city. | Published October 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Caroline Zimmerman

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.