Free complimentary copy August 7, 2015 • Volume 2, No. 41
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Kansas City-based company investing in social entrepreneurial housing project By Kris Collins Affinity Enterprise Group, a Kansas City-based agglomeration of 55 companies, broke ground Tuesday on a social entrepreneurial housing project in the Crescent Creek subdivision at 58th Terrace and Raytown Road. The goal of the Crescent Creek project is to create affordable singlefamily homes while making enough profit to split with a nonprofit, in this case River of Refuge.
“We’re especially pleased that, when completed, the Crescent Creek subdivision will successfully revitalize a community, bring value to the current residents, and provide additional financial support to River of Refuge, a local organization we are committed to supporting into the future through financial and human resource contributions,” said Affinity Enterprise Group President Michael Wrenn. Crescent Creek Revitalization, LLC, a part of Affinity Enterprise Group, purchased the undeveloped land in 2014 as a social entrepreneurial venture. Construction at the 24-acre Crescent Creek subdivision began in 2006, but only 21 of the 89 lots originally platted were completed before the recession brought the development to a halt. Now, excavation on two spec homes is expected to begin within
two weeks. The two floor plans for the development are a three-bedroom, twobathroom and two-car garage lay out and a two-bedroom, two-bathroom and two-car garage design, priced at $179,950 and $139,950. “We have taken some risk with this social venture and invested significant resources into this project,” Wrenn said. “Once we are able to successfully recover our investment we will be in a position to contribute a portion of the revenue we generate to River of Refuge; because once they are successful in opening their first 11 apartments they will be in need of enhanced operating income.” Kirk Miles, president of Affinity Charitable Resources, LLC, said the size of the contribution to River Refuge is unknown until the homes are sold. Miles, who spent more than 30 years in the nonprofit industry, said social entrepreneurship is a trend emanating and spreading from Kansas City. “You’ve got the Kauffman Foundation, and you’ve got UMKC and really a lot of forward-thinking businessmen and entrepreneurs that are thinking that there’s a better way to improve the world,” Miles said. “It can’t be done by the independent sector and government; it needs to be all of us together. A lot of businesses are starting to tweak their corporate charters and stuff, and start looking at ‘OK, it’s not all about the bottom line for our investors. We need to be contributing to society and our communities.’” In addition to providing new affordable housing in the subdivision, Miles said he hopes the project will increase the value of the 16 existing
Photo by Kris Collins Raytown Mayor Mike McDonough, from left, River of Refuge Founder John Wiley, Becky Cole, Affinity Charitable Resources CFO, Michael Wrenn, Affinity Enterprise Group president and Raytown Area Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Mike Smith break ground Aug. 4 at the Crescent Creek social entrepreneurial housing venture. single-family homes and five-plex, which he said have lost value since the recession that halted development. “We’re trying to work with the residents to show them value and bring value back. We hope that they will hopefully at some point buy into the fact that, ‘Hey, this is great and we want to support River of Refuge also,’” he said.
River of Refuge is a nonprofit organization based in Kansas City that transitions homeless working families from extended residence at motels with high rates to permanent housing. According to the River of Refuge website, families living in a motel often pay $800 to $1200 per month for a one room living space. The River of Refuge purchased the 150,000-square-foot former Park
Raytowner released from Chiefs not giving up By Kris Collins After signing a one-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs and subsequently being waived by the team three days later, 22-year-old LaVance Taylor isn’t done trying to be the best that ever played. “I’m still going to pursue my dream of football because one of my dreams when I was growing up was to be the best player ever,” the Raytown High School graduate said. “I’m not going to quit on that. I’m going to pursue it as hard as I have been.” Taylor received heavy media attention after he signed the contract as a free agent July 30 because of his unique approach to getting the Chiefs’ attention — a highlight reel posted to Twitter that tagged the team’s account. In other tweets he also tagged Deion Sanders, Jerry Jones and 18 other NFL teams. Taylor said the idea to tweet his highlight reel, which has 130,000 views on YouTube, came from his father. “He suggested I should sell myself,” Taylor said. “I thought the best way to sell yourself is on social media. I knew a lot of people on Twitter so I just tweeted my highlight video to see what would happen.” The next day Taylor got a call from his agent. He said he had just returned home from an interview with a company in the food service industry when he found out the
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Chiefs wanted to sign him. Taylor went to camp with the Chiefs Thursday evening through Sunday, when he was released by the team in favor of Alabama-Birmingham running back Darrin Reaves. “It was a great experience,” Taylor said of his time with the Chiefs. “All those guys are down to earth, even Jamal Charles. They were just a humble group and they went about their business the right way. I couldn’t do anything but be thankful that I was put in a situation with that group of guys.” Taylor still has one year of school left at the University of Central Missouri, where he holds school records for single-season rushing yards and all-purpose yards, as well as career marks in all-purpose yards and kickoff returns for touchdowns. He was also First Team AP Little All-American last season and earned multiple All-America honors after leading the MIAA in rushing, according to University of Central Missouri. Taylor said he’s open to playing football in any league and he’s maintaining a positive attitude, which can be seen in his Twitter feed alone. “I’ll consider anything. I just want to play ball,” he said of playing football abroad. “I’m not really a big have-to-be-all-fancy, NFL-ornothing (person.) I’m pretty much down for whatever as long as it’s playing football.”
Lane Hospital just outside the city limits of Raytown and is converting it into a facility that helps needy working families move to a “place of dignity.” The exclusive builder for the development is Hickory Global Construction and Gary Knabe, with Coldwell Banker All American Realty, is the exclusive broker for the development.
Jackson County court commissioner receives national award
Photo courtesy of Jackson County Circuit Court Molly Merrigan
Photo by R.C. Jones LaVance Taylor runs the ball as a blue jay during his Raytown High School career.
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Jackson County Family Court Commissioner Molly Merrigan was given the Judge Goldstein Award July 30 by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. The eponymous award in honor of the first drug court judge in the United States is given annually to individuals who make significant contributions to the drug court field.
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