Kansas City's Urban League President celebrates a milestone

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Gwent Grant is marking a decade of leadership as President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City.

“My entire career has always been in the non-profit sector; so I’ve always had a desire or a calling, if you will, to be able to do work that impacts people in positive ways,” said Grant.

Grant explained that she grew up during the Civil Rights Era and had opportunities as a young girl to attend civil rights marches and events.

“All of those things had some impact on me and my desire to be involved in making a difference as opposed to looking at what’s going on in society,” Grant added.

One of the first things she did when she became president was to initiate the research and publish what’s called The State of Black Kansas City. It’s published every two years.

“I’m really pleased about that because we can say this is how far we’ve come, these are the gaps that exist and now let’s develop some strategies to close those gaps,” Grant said.

She’s also extremely proud of the League’s work with young people. Through the League’s Minority Scholarship program and Infinite Scholars program, Kansas City students have been awarded more than $6 million in scholarships.

The slogan for the Urban League is, ‘Empowering Communities and Changing Lives.’

“I want to empower people to make their lives have value and to have quality in their life with regard to education, economic development and being an entrepreneur,” said Grant.

Grant says the League’s Leadership program is also a crown jewel of the organization. Four hundred people have graduated from the program and become leaders in their neighborhoods and businesses.

For the future, Grant is hoping that Kansas City can resolve the problems in Kansas City Public Schools so students can receive a quality education. She would also like to new economic development in the urban core.

“Kansas City is my home; I was born and raised here and I want to see us do better,” Grant concluded.