Kansas City faith leaders, community organizers and racial justice advocates are set to gather Saturday, Nov. 7, for the 2026 Annual KC Racial Justice Summit, an event built around a single, pointed question the city has been wrestling with for more than a year: what, if anything, does Kansas City owe its Black residents for generations of discriminatory policy? The gathering will feature a keynote address, workshops led by eight local racial justice leaders, and resource tables for attendees to connect with area organizations.
The summit is hosted by Intersect KC and led by the KC Disciples' Becoming Beloved Community Team, according to the Kansas City Star. It takes place at Intersect KC, located at 606 Gladstone in Kansas City, and organizers say they hope the connections made there will encourage collaboration among residents, advocates, religious institutions and grassroots organizations. The event emphasizes faith communities' role in advancing social change through organizing, advocacy and community involvement.
A Keynote Rooted in Faith-Based Organizing
This year's keynote speaker is the Rev. Dr. Hanna R. Broome, a faith organizer, theologian and social activist whose work focuses on connecting religious leadership with civic engagement and social justice, per the Star's report. Broome serves as national director of religious affairs for Repairers of the Breach, an organization working on poverty, voting rights, health care, immigration and economic inequality, and as executive director of Project 100 Civic Engagement within the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which equips congregations with resources for voter education, community organizing and sustained civic participation.
Broome brings more than two decades of ordained ministry and pastoral leadership to the role, the station's report notes, and has advocated for churches to expand their roles beyond worship by developing community leaders, confronting injustice and strengthening neighborhoods. Her keynote is expected to address faith-based organizing aimed at tackling racial disparities and building lasting community partnerships.
The Featured Workshop: 'The Case for Reparations'
Among the eight workshops, one is drawing particular attention: “The Case for Reparations,” led by Terri Barnes, who chairs Kansas City's Mayor's Commission on Reparations, and longtime Kansas City journalist and columnist Bill Tammeus. The session will examine how historical policies and discriminatory practices have affected Black Kansas Citians, contributing to disparities in housing, education, health care, economic opportunities and the criminal justice system.
Barnes is expected to update attendees on the commission's efforts to document historical harms against Black residents and identify potential measures to address them, while Tammeus will offer historical and community perspectives on the moral questions surrounding reparations and community responsibility. That update arrives as the commission's completed report, which the Star's opinion section says is supposed to be ready in February 2027, remains in progress; the same opinion piece noted that after a year of work on an initial report drawing on oral histories, the commission's task is not yet done.
The Numbers Behind the Push
The push for reparations in Kansas City is grounded in stark, well-documented disparities. Black residents in the Kansas City region hold just one-third the housing wealth of white households, according to the Mid-America Regional Council. The council's research found that median housing value in neighborhoods historically rated D, or “Hazardous,” by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation sits at $79,642, compared with $388,287 in neighborhoods rated A, or “Best” — roughly one-fifth as much.
Those historically redlined D-rated neighborhoods are now 70% people of color or Hispanic/Latino residents, versus just 11% in A-rated areas, per the same council data, and they carry a far higher share of renter-occupied housing: 57.1% compared with 14.2% in A-rated neighborhoods. A separate analysis cited by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century estimated that annual financial productivity in Kansas City's best-ranked areas runs about $1.9 million per acre, compared with roughly $175,000 per acre in redlined communities.
Other Voices on the Agenda
Janay Reliford, who chairs the Kansas City Reparations Coalition, a group focused on reparations for Black residents, is also slated to speak at Saturday's summit, the Star reported. This marks the fourth year the Becoming Beloved Community has held the event; it staged its third annual Racial Justice Summit in Kansas City on Nov. 1, 2025, according to KC Disciples.
Looking to Other Cities, With Caveats
Kansas City organizers have pointed to Evanston, Illinois, as an example of a city that has already moved on reparations, though accounts of the program's scale diverge. The Star's opinion section reported that Evanston committed $10 million over 10 years in the form of $25,000 housing grants, mortgages or home repairs, while NPR reported the city committed $20 million collected from its tax on cannabis sales and real estate transfers to pay reparations of $25,000 per person. NPR additionally reported that since Evanston approved reparations payments in 2021, the city has given $25,000 grants to more than 300 people.
Saturday's summit offers practical tools for organizing, building relationships and advocating for community change, but it stops short of resolving what Kansas City itself will ultimately do. With the Mayor's Commission on Reparations still finalizing its findings ahead of the expected February 2027 report, the workshops, keynote and resource tables at Intersect KC represent another step in a conversation the city has not yet concluded.
