U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., will be the guest speaker at the 40th annual Wyandotte County Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast Friday, Nov. 7, at the Reardon Convention Center, 500 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kan.
It is an interdenominational event.
Rep. Cleaver, also an ordained United Methodist minister, is expected to discuss the importance of faith in the community.
This year’s Master of Ceremonies is Superintendent Cindy Lane, superintendent of the Kansas City, Kan., Public School District. All three Wyandotte County mayors are a part of the program.
The cost of the breakfast buffet is $20 per person. Seating begins at 6:45 a.m. and the program begins at 7 a.m.
Rep. Cleaver, who is now serving his fifth term representing Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, will offer the keynote motivational speech at this year’s breakfast.
Missouri’s Fifth District is home to the only city in the nation with the distinction of having the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Cleaver’s efforts have been seen in farmers and ranchers throughout the district now having more freedom in choosing who works in the family business, and Cleaver has been recognized across the country for his efforts to bring cooperation, common sense, and civility to Washington in the sea of political partisanship, dysfunction, and debilitating delays.
Having served for 12 years on the city council of Missouri’s largest municipality, Rep. Cleaver was elected as Kansas City, Mo.,’s first African American mayor in 1991.
Rep. Cleaver has received five honorary doctoral degrees. His bachelor’s degree is from Prairie View A&M, and his master’s degree is from St. Paul’s School of Theology of Kansas City, Mo.
After graduating from Prairie View he moved to Kansas City, Mo., where he founded a local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He became pastor of the St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Mo., where he built the congregation from 47 members to more than 2,000. Cleaver’s great-grandfather and grandfather were preachers, as were several of his uncles and cousins. One of the congressman’s three sons (Emanuel Cleaver III) – has followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfathers – and is now pastor of St. James.
Rep. Cleaver has been called one of the hardest working congressmen in the country. He designed the nationally recognized Green Impact Zone in the heart of Kansas City, Mo., creating jobs, boosting the economy, revitalizing small business, increasing affordable housing, improving energy efficiency and securing technology to assist law enforcement in the fight for safer communities.
During his eight-year stint as mayor, Cleaver distinguished himself as an economic development activist and a redevelopment craftsman. He and the City Council brought a number of major corporations to the city. Additionally, his municipal stewardship includes the 18th and Vine Redevelopment, a new American Royal, the establishment of a Family Division of the Municipal Court, and the reconstruction and beautification of Brush Creek.
From civil rights activist to Methodist minister to his election as the first black mayor of Kansas City, Mo., Cleaver has changed his approach to social activism with the changing times.
“We encourage the community to attend the Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast and hear how Congressman Cleaver’s faith has given him a special direction in life and commitment to our community,” said Tom Johnson, Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast committee chairperson.
Tickets are available for purchase at the chamber office, 727 Minnesota Ave. or at the Bonner Springs City Hall, 205 E. Second St. All ticket reservations must be paid in advance. Tickets also are available at www.kckchamber.com/MayorsPrayerBreakfast. For information, email [email protected].