I have worked with CCO for many years. They are well organized, excellent communicators and fight hard for "the least of these" in Kansas City. I'm always impressed with how well they work with people of various faiths.
CCO is a faith-based, non-partisan organization focusing on the primary initiatives that cause concern for our families and neighborhoods; i.e. housing and community development, safe neighborhoods, healthcare, economic empowerment, and youth development, to name a few.
Foreclosures bring blight, empty homes, crime and dumping issues to communities and my neighborhood was no exception. After weeks of trying to get the City to come out and remove an ever-growing pile of trash and furniture, I called on CCO for help. We had an action, right there in front of the pile of trash, publicized it through the media, and our City Councilwoman joined us and with a couple of phone calls, had that whole mountain of garbage hauled away.
CCO and its leaders and staff have worked tirelessly to improve not only Kansas City neighborhoods, but the entire metro area, including Kansas City, Kansas, and throughout mid-Missouri. Our Executive Director, Eva Schulte heads our organization and under her leadership, CCO has helped secure funding for housing, neighborhood improvements, and health care initiatives, to name a few. These improvements have brought hope and high expectations to our communities that together, we can accomplish even greater things.
Our church has been working with CCO for six years now, and we love the organization. We have watched CCO more than double its capacity in that time, under the great leadership of Executive Director Eva Schulte. Eva manages to hire simply outstanding organizers and to make them even better. Working with CCO has allowed our church to be involved in important change in our city and state; it has greatly increased our own capacity to make change as well. We've been particularly involved in the campaign to cap Missouri's outrageous interest rates on short term loans, which currently average 445% APR. When we are successful in that effort, it will change the lives of thousands of people in our community. We have also been strengthened by the ability to work side by side with a diverse array of persons from nearly every sort of faith community in the Kansas City metro. We look forward to many more years of organizing with CCO.