Neighbors Making Their Neighborhoods

Paul Stewart comes to the Plaza Branch on Tuesday, November 10, for a talk titled Neighbors Making Their Neighborhoods. Stewart is a psychology professor at the State University of New York-Oswego and the founder and director of the Oswego Renaissance Association. He'll be drawing on his hometown of Oswego, New York, to describe how neighbors there worked together to restore their city and community, leveraging $6.5 million in private investment across more than 60 residential areas and over 1,500 households.

The talk is part of the Kansas City Public Library's Making a Great City series, which launched in January 2018 to foster the healthy growth of Kansas City and examine how development decisions can strengthen fiscal stability and reduce wealth disparities. It's the kind of conversation that looks at what happens when people take the lead on their own blocks rather than waiting for a top-down plan to arrive. Stewart's Oswego example puts numbers to that—$6.5 million in private investment across 1,500 households—so it's less about a few renovated houses and more about a city-wide shift.

The program is made possible by a long list of local partners: the Kirk Foundation, JE Dunn, Mid-America Regional Council, Kissick Construction, Driven Development, Multistudio, David & Cathi Brain, the City of Kansas City, the City Manager's Office, and LISC. That's a lot of names behind one evening, and it points to the kind of cross-sector interest the series is built around.

It's happening at the Plaza Branch in the Truman Forum Auditorium, and you can catch it in person or online. The talk starts at 6 PM, with a reception beginning at 5:30 PM if you want to arrive early and chat before it kicks off.