Longtime KC civil rights leader, Gwen Grant, will retire
After nearly 30 years leading the Urban League of Greater Kansas City and being the mouthpiece shouting down injustice and threats of any kind to the rights of Black Kansas Citians and the historically marginalized, Gwendolyn Grant has announced she is retiring.
Grant, president and CEO of Kansas City’s Urban League, is the first woman to lead the civil rights organization in its more than 100-year history. She will continue as CEO until March 2027, when a successor will be named.
Grant said she is working on a succession plan, and in the meantime has named Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson as president and chief operating officer at the Urban League, where she has been working for more than a year.
While Grant has led the Urban League for 25 years, she has been with the civil rights organization for more than three decades. She confirmed her retirement plans Wednesday and said she planned to announce it publicly Thursday during the Urban League’s 68th Annual Difference Maker Awards Luncheon. This year’s luncheon is particularly special for Grant because she will interview the Rev. Al Sharpton, who Grant has long admired for his civil rights work.
Watching national leaders like Sharpton and working at hte Urban League are how Grant learned what it means to be a social justice and human rights activist.
“I’m retiring now because it is time,” Grant said. She said she’s been thinking about retirement for nearly two years now, but wanted to make sure that when she left, “I would leave this organization better than when it was handed to me. And I wanted to leave it fiscally strong.”
Grant said she is preparing Robinson to step into the leadership role because “she is the best person to do that. She has 20 years of public service and she embodies the passion for advancing the Urban League mission.”
Kansas City has become familiar with seeing Grant at a podium behind a spray of microphones, fiercely advocating unapologetically for what she believes is right for Kansas City’s Black residents, poor residents, women, and families.
She has not been one to back away from a fight either, taking on Mayor Quinton Lucas over police funding and standing out front pushing for the resignation of former Police Chief Rick Smith, who she said was bad for Kansas City and was incapable of “fairly and effectively policing in a diverse city.”
And, after the 2019 police shooting of Cameron Lamb, Grant was one of the most outspoken civic leaders calling for police accountability and for Jackson County prosecutors to criminally charge Lamb’s killer, and any officers who kill unarmed Black men in the city.
“There is no question that her voice has been big in Kansas City for two decades,” said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
“Wherever there was pain, anguish, injustice, Gwen was there. Whenever there was an issue where people were powerless because of their status, Gwen was there,” Cleaver said.
“Whenever there was any issue related to injustice towards a group of minorities, Black, white, brown, or the disabled, Gwen has been there. Her voice was a loud voice that everybody knew they could depend on.”
The Rev. James Tindall Sr. has worked closely with Grant for years on Kansas City’s Urban Summit, a grassroots civil rights think tank founded by Tindall.
Tindall called Grant “a jewel to our community,” and said while she might be stepping away from her role at the Urban League, “I know she won’t be retiring from the community.”
“I’ve known her since before she became an employee at the Urban League,” Tindall said. “She has always been a hard worker in the community. I think wherever she goes, she will be in the community, because it is in her blood.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 6:54 PM.
