Month: September 2021

New Rally House location opens at Legends Outlets

A new Rally House location opened recently at The Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kansas. (Submitted photo)

A new Rally House location opened recently on the west side of the Legends Outlets, at I-435 and I-70 in Kansas City, Kansas.

The 13,625-square-foot store provides officially licensed college, NFL, MLB, NHL, MBA and MLS apparel, along with merchandise, accessories, gifts, drinkware, local novelties and Kansas souvenirs, according to a Legends spokesman.

There will be a wide variety of apparel and merchandise featuring professional teams including the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, along with regional college teams.

The location at 1867 Village West Parkway, Suite D-103, near the Lawn on the west side of the center, is the second largest retail location.

Based in Lenexa, Kansas, Rally House began in 1989 under the name Kansas Sampler featuring apparel and gifts related to the state of Kansas and local Kansas teams. During the past 30 years, Rally House has grown to operate more than 50 locations in nine states. For more information on Rally House, visit www.rallyhouse.com.

Rally House joins more than 100 unique designer outlets, retail, dining, and entertainment destinations at Legends Outlets, including the newly opened Vera Bradley outlet store.

KCK school board to hold budget hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 14

The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools Board of Education will hold a budget hearing at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, at the school district’s Central Office, 2010 N. 59th St., Kansas City, Kansas.

A public hearing on exceeding the revenue neutral tax rate for the 2021-2022 school year will follow at 5:10 p.m., according to a meeting notice.

The proposed school district mill levy rate is the same as last year’s.

During the hearings, the public may speak and ask questions about the budget.

The proposed budget for 2021-2022 is 49.65 mills, the same rate as the 2020-2021 actual tax rate, according to the district’s budget document.

In the 2019-2020 school year, the rate was 49.605 mills.

Proposed total expenditures for the 2021-2022 year are $584,877,945. Last year, they were $417,436,666.

The proposed budget will refinance bonds to save about $4 million in interest costs and will move 1.16 mills from the bond and interest fund into the local option budget (LOB) fund for additional operating expenses, according to earlier reports from district officials.

It increases the local option budget from 30 to 33 percent. District officials said earlier this year that it would not increase the mill levy rate for local taxpayers.

One of the many other items on the agenda Tuesday will be a discussion on staff vaccination numbers.

The meeting will be shown on YouTube, according to the agenda.

The meeting agenda is online at https://go.boarddocs.com/ks/kckps/Board.nsf/vpublic.

To see an earlier story on the budget, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/kck-school-board-to-consider-bond-refinance-and-raising-local-option-budget-authority/.

Federal funding announced to combat housing instability in Wyandotte County and 3rd District

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., has announced that NeighborWorks America awarded $146,557 to Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) to provide counseling for households in the 3rd District of Kansas who are facing housing instability.

CHWC offers free and low-cost housing counseling, financial education, and purchase assistance for families.

This grant was awarded through the Housing Stability Counseling Program, which was created with funds from the American Rescue Plan. Rep. Davids is the only member of the Kansas delegation to vote for the American Rescue Plan.

“The pandemic put millions of people at risk of losing their homes and searching for assistance. Through the American Rescue Plan, help is here,” Rep. Davids said. “This grant will allow Community Housing of Wyandotte County to increase their capacity to counsel and support folks in our district who are facing housing instability, helping more families keep their homes and get back on their feet financially.”

“The HCSP grant award will provide much-needed support for CHWC’s critical effort to keep Kansas City, Kansas families safely housed as we work beside our neighbors navigating the ongoing impact of COVID-19 in our community. We thank Congresswoman Davids for her advocacy for housing and neighborhood development in KCK neighborhoods,” said Brennan Crawford, executive director and CEO of Community Housing of Wyandotte County.

With funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, NeighborWorks America designed the Housing Stability Counseling Program (HSCP). The program aims to help eligible nonprofits and agencies provide direct housing counseling services to individuals and families facing housing instability, such as eviction, foreclosure and homelessness.

Eligible HUD-approved intermediaries, state housing finance agencies (HFAs), and NeighborWorks network organizations applied for HSCP funding in June. The 131 recipients include 84 NeighborWorks network organizations, 18 HFAs, and 29 HUD-approved intermediaries. Each of these HUD-approved housing counseling agencies are set to assist consumers with foreclosure and eviction prevention and access to federal, state and local relief programs. HSCP will provide grants to more than 600 nonprofit counseling agencies and nearly 81,000 people will receive housing stability counseling. HSCP counseling will be provided in all 50 states including the District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico and Guam.

Federal funding for this grant was authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act, which Rep. Davids voted to support earlier this year. NeighborWorks America is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that offers grant funding, peer exchange, technical assistance, evaluation tools, and access to training as the nation’s leading trainer of housing and community development professionals.