Category: Business

Welcoming Week starts today, with Taco Royale along Central Avenue

Welcoming Week will start today, Sept. 10, with Taco Royale along Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Welcoming Week event, which continues through Sept. 19, spotlights and celebrates the contributions and achievements of immigrants to the Greater Kansas City community, according to a spokesman.

The event today is supported by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, REACH Healthcare Foundation, Central Avenue Betterment Association and Open Belly Podcast.

The Welcoming Week also receives support from Welcoming KC, a group of nonprofits, businesses and civic agencies working to make Greater Kansas City an official designated Welcoming City through Welcoming America.

The kickoff event is today’s Taco Royale taco crawl, celebrating and supporting immigrant-owned restaurants along KCK’s Central Avenue.

“Welcoming Week is our opportunity to shine a spotlight on the social, civic and economic benefits of being welcoming to all. As a founding partner and coalition member for Welcoming KC, the REACH Foundation is proud to work alongside nonprofit, business and civic groups to ensure immigrants and other newcomers are embraced by our community.” Carla Gibson, vice president of programs, REACH Healthcare Foundation.

“Immigrants play a vital role in the KC economy, said Joe Reardon, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. “They are entrepreneurs, small business owners, and spend $3.5 billion per year across Greater Kansas City. We are thrilled to play a part in making our community more welcoming to immigrants and refugees, and to support these immigrant-owned, small businesses as part of Taco Royale.”

Taco Royale is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, beginning at Bethany Park, 1120 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Registrants will receive a map and a bracelet identifying them as part of Taco Royale, that gets them a specialty taco at each of the participating restaurants:

• El Menudazo KC
• Taqueria El Torito
• Taqueria 7 Leguas
• Taqueria Los Altos de Jalisco
• Tacos el Tio
• GG’s Barbacoa Café
• El Rio Bravo Supermarket
• Paleteria Nevelandia
• The Sugar Skull Grill
• Panaderia y Tortilleria Lluvia
• Las Gorditas
• Pasteleria Osuna
• El Jefe Taqueria

The admission charge is $30, and includes one taco at 15 different restaurants.

For details and a full list of Welcoming Week events visit https://www.kcchamber.com/what-we-do/welcoming-kc. Registration closes at 2 p.m.

Bank of Labor invests in affordable housing fund


The Bank of Labor, headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, is one of six large institutional investors that have invested in the IMPACT Mortgage Opportunities Fund.

The fund exceeded its initial capital target and raised $210 million in recent weeks, according to a news release.

IMPACT seeks to make positive social change in America’s underinvested communities by preserving existing affordable multifamily properties and providing investors market rate returns, the news release stated.

The fund’s successful close signifies the impact financial institutions can make on affordable housing. Investors joining Bank of Labor include Farmers Insurance, Nationwide and Pacific Life Insurance Company.

“IMPACT’s mission aligns well with our Bank’s efforts to support the working class in Kansas City and across the country,” noted Joe Schoonover, first vice president, at Bank of Labor. The bank formerly was known as Brotherhood Bank.

Since 2001, IMPACT has invested over $1 billion in affordable housing. Unfortunately, the nation’s housing crisis faces an immediate threat: affordability restrictions on hundreds of thousands of federally assisted homes are set to end over the next several years, placing these properties at risk of becoming market-rate rentals, according to a bank spokesman. In 2021 alone, affordability restrictions on more than 123,000 federally assisted units are due to expire.

The fund helps address this need by providing high-quality, short-term bridge loans to developers and owners of affordable housing who want to preserve their properties’ affordability status. The loans provide borrowers time to apply for permanent financing and government subsidy programs.

“IMPACT will bring tremendous value to developers from the Kansas City region who are seeking bridge or permanent financing on affordable housing projects,” Schoonover stated. He added, “Bank of Labor has the know-how to assist with scoping local projects and helping developers successfully navigate the funding.”

Over the lifespan of the fund, IMPACT expects to preserve over 5,000 affordable units across the United States.

“To address the critical need for quality, safe, and affordable housing across the country, we have to meet the short-term challenge of preserving the current at-risk housing supply,” said Jeff Brenner, IMPACT’s president and chief executive officer.

“IMPACT’s Mortgage Opportunity Fund means funding for developers that will result in thousands of more affordable homes from the Midwest to the coasts,” Schoonover stated. He added, “It’s exciting to be behind this effort to provide new housing opportunities to families ready to settle into a community.”

Fairfax group to meet Sept. 9

The Fairfax Industrial Association is planning an in-person luncheon at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 9.

The guest speaker will be Dan Desko from the B-25 Bomber History Project. There will be virtual guest speakers from the Yankee Air Museum.

The luncheon will be at the Strawberry Hill Museum, 720 N. 4th St., Kansas City, Kansas. The admission cost is $25.

The B-25D Bomber, Rosie’s Reply, was built in Fairfax during World War II.

Masks will be required at this event. The deadline to register is Tuesday, Sept. 7. Registration is at https://fiakck.org/product/sept-2021-dandesko/.