Handout to hand up: The Prospect KC feeds, trains and motivates community | Opinion
The idea of soup kitchens, food pantries and community feeding stations have been around long before this government shutdown and the ones that have come before.
Kind souls have been feeding low-income people for a long time. Hunger isn’t new, but it is on a lot of people’s minds today, since the Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts — affecting how much money people already short on funds have to spend — and the temporary stoppage of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits because of the shutdown.
Those who feed people have reported increases in need of food distribution, meals and, well, just help.
Of course, some wonder if we’re doing people any good by giving people a fish instead of teaching to fish.
Shanita McAfee-Bryant dismisses the limitations of that old proverb.
Instead, this chef says you can do both. And that’s what she is doing with Prospect KC, what’s known as a social enterprise. She founded the organization in 2019.
Prospect KC is the umbrella nonprofit organization that connects Nourish KC (the community kitchen), Culinary Futures (a workforce development program) and The Nook and Prospect KC Bakery (commercial outlets). There’s also a food recovery program, called Pantry Partner Program, to get donated food before it goes to waste. This year, 391,079 pounds of food have been recovered, and they sent out 200,927 pounds of food to community partners, according their records.
So, the hungry get fed, those who need jobs are trained at the community kitchen, and then they get prepared to work in the food industry at the coffee shop and bakery.
And there is Nourish Now Catering, a full-service caterer, where the revenue made gets funneled back into all these operations. The holiday catering menu is available now.
‘Fix all four legs at the same time’
McAfee-Bryant, an award-winning chef, a single mom and a Kansas City native wants people to see it in a holistic way. She describes it like a chair.
“If I only fixed one leg of your chair at a time, you’d be wobbling, you know, back and forth. You need to fix all four legs at the same time. So that’s kind of our approach, trying to look at everyone as a whole person, and seeing how we can address all that.”
It makes sense to me, even on Prospect KC’s small scale. It deals in three areas, food access, nutritional literacy and workforce development.
“So the food access, that’s the community meals, the pantry, the stuff we do to support other people by helping their organizations make meals. The nutritional literacy is what we do with partners. Like last earlier this week, I taught a class at the library on menu planning and how to use what you have and things like that,” said McAfee-Bryant, 45.
And then there are her workforce trainees that she calls her “Prospects.”
“The thing is, people are not struggling to get a job,” she said. “They’re struggling to keep a job, because the current employment world doesn’t allow space for you to have transportation problems, or for you to have housing instability, for you to be struggling with your mental health, for you to be struggling with your child care.”
‘A microcosm for life’
Her program, Culinary Futures, allows for that. “We’re trying to look at them on that individual basis and saying, like, you have these skills and you’re really good at it,” she said. “So I am going to help you up your job skills, while we work on these barriers that you’re facing to employment, and doing it in an environment that very much mimics the professional world. It’s a microcosm for life, right? You have to know how to manage your time. You have to know how to deal with stress. You have to know how to deal with all different kinds of people.”
I went down to the community kitchen on a Wednesday just before lunchtime and was impressed with the operation. Around noon, they open the dining room, which seats 60 people, and serve the diners.
That’s right. Those needing a hot meal get served, as if they were in a restaurant. They don’t have to go through a cafeteria line.
“We serve them their beverage, we serve them their meal after that, because it’s a more respectful way to do it. It’s a dignified experience. I think it’s a more human experience. The best way to do that is, ‘Here’s your plate, enjoy your meal,’ right? Versus you just stand at the line and I’m slopping potatoes on your plate,” she said.
True. But I couldn’t help but think she could feed more people faster if they didn’t serve them. McAfee-Bryant agreed.
“Oh, I can get way more if I did it that way. It’s not about volume, to me. It’s more about people being able to come in and sit down and have that human connection.”
Yes, Chef.
Consistency is key
McAfee-Bryant and her team of 220 active volunteers serve the community Monday through Friday. They are seeing an uptick in diners since the Medicaid cut and the shutdown. But even when the shutdown ends, she said she’ll keep working to meet whatever need there is.
“Hey, I’m not trying to respond to the moment, right?” she said. “Whether it was May or Nov. 1, I’m going to have people here who need to eat. What I do have is more people. But I am not trying to change my programming in any way, shape or form. Why? Because the people who come here, especially now, need me to be consistent. Yeah, they need me to be consistent.”
Mikita Watson, who coordinates The Prospect KC’s media (and she’s the chef’s right-hand woman) knows the operation inside out. “In October, we served 8,500 meals, 750 more than normal, and we’re on pace to exceed that in November.”
McAfee-Bryant explained that in May, they saw on average about 380 plates a day. “Yesterday, it was 450. So, yeah, we just expect the number to grow.”
In the Prospect KC’s latest newsletter sent to community members, the organization acknowledged the effect that the federal shutdown and ongoing delays in SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and other programs are having. They “have left thousands of local families uncertain about where their next meal will come from.”
And it’s not just the hungry facing uncertainties: “We’re not just seeing more individuals in need, more of our pantry partners are reaching out for support as well. Together, we’re working to keep food flowing to families across the metro. At The Prospect KC, we’ve increased meal service and pantry distribution, but we can’t do it alone.”
Nationwide social enterprise network
After talking to McAfee-Bryant and seeing her operation, I’m convinced this is the way we need to help people. All the time I was there, I was thinking: How do you scale this? How can you help more and more people in this holistic manner?
The Prospect KC isn’t one of a kind, but it is a successful local version of national social enterprises built on the principles of asset mapping — looking at what you have and working with it. McAfee-Bryant said she’s part of the Catalyst Kitchens member network based in Seattle, which collaborates with other kitchens around the country to brainstorm problems together.
Catalyst Kitchens is a member-led consortium of 90 kitchens in 33 states (Missouri is listed, Kansas is not). They offer conferences and classes to members .
Some other social enterprises exist independently of Catalyst, and McAfee-Bryant also keeps up on what they’re doing.
“So you have D.C. Central Kitchen. They’re feeding the laid-off government workers in D.C. right now,” she said. There’s “Fare Start in Seattle, which really started this whole idea. So we’re the concept, and you all kind of keep in touch with each other.”
Not all social enterprises are food-based. “You have Homeboy Industries,” (a gang rehabilitation initiative in Los Angeles). “Then there’s RedF,” (with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco) “that invests in all kinds of businesses. Those businesses are not necessarily food-related, but it’s still the same idea: human services with training and having a component that creates jobs for people.”
It’s the difference between handouts and hand ups.
“You’re approaching someone’s road to self-sufficiency as a whole person, when traditionally people would be like, ‘Well, I just do housing instability, and I don’t do any of the other stuff. Or I just do SNAP or WIC benefits.’ When you approach it from a whole person, you really increase the odds that people are going to be able to get out of that cycle of jumping from service to service to service.
Volunteers are the foundation
The Prospect KC runs on its volunteers, some who just want to help, and others who have a real passion for the food industry. A former restaurant owner, Cari Cavalcante, volunteers in the kitchen. She used to run the Bloomsbury Bistro in Prairie Village.
“I had moved away from Kansas City and when I came back, quite frankly, after the 2024 election, I felt like I really needed to do something. So I went to a volunteer fair that Boots on the Ground Midwest put on. And I found this there, and I said, this is perfect, and it has been.”
She said she has volunteered since March, and helps two to three days a week, usually working five to six hours.
“Well, I’m retired. Thankfully retired, yes, but I have a lot of background in volunteer work. I used to work for the Missouri Special Olympics, and so I love working with the volunteers who come in. And as I see it, my job here is to help Chef Shanita and the other chefs to try to make their lives a little easier.”
Cavalcante noted the stress the chefs are under to keep food on the table for the community. “And so if I can do just a little bit like that, to help them, and then I feel like I’m giving back to the community,” she said. “That has really fulfilled me and helped sustain me over this past year.”
I asked her if she was worried about the future. “Well, I have worries with the food getting cut back. Because even just since I’ve been here, I’ve seen it getting scaled back and scaled back and scaled back. But, you know, somebody dropped off a great big case of chili con carne. So that’s what we’re working on. We kind of beef it up and do that sort of thing. And they dropped off a case of ground meat, and so we brown that, put it in chili con carne. So I think that I am a little worried, but I kind of ride along on her coattails, because she keeps us all encouraged.”
Cavalcante said McAfee-Bryant tells the crew, “It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to be OK,” And she said that’s important to hear, especially gearing up for Thanksgiving. Plans were made to serve about 260 people, but those expectations have risen to 500.
“Unfortunately I won’t be here at Thanksgiving, I will be out of town, so, but I trust that she’ll get it done. I think she will.”
As hard as she works, McAfee-Bryant’s face is bright and her attitude, positive. The newsletter sent to community members reflects it:
“Your support whether through time, advocacy, or giving ensures that our neighbors continue to have access to food, dignity, and opportunity. Even in times like these, there is light, and that light is you. — Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant”
How you can help
The Prospect KC asks for more than food to help the people they see every day. Here is a list of what they need, besides the main requests of money and volunteers:
- Cold-weather and comfort items: Coats, hats, scarves, gloves and thermal socks
- Personal care and feminine hygiene products: toothbrushes, toothpaste cleansing cloths, razors and shaving cream
- Meal service and to-go supplies: Compostable containers, utensils and napkins
- Pantry and food support: Shelf-stable proteins and creamer, pasta, rice, lentils, oatmeal, sugar and flour
- Kitchen and volunteer supplies: Aprons, kitchen towels, XL latex gloves, disposable masks and cleaning supplies
- Community and Connection items : Journals, pens and books
Learn more ways to donate on The Prospect KC website at theprospectkc.org
This story was originally published November 9, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
