2022 COMBAT Funding: $42,514.00

In Legal Aid Of Western Missouri's Own Words

Our work makes the promise of "justice for all" a reality for thousands of low-income people who would otherwise never achieve justice without legal counsel. A lack of access to legal services has led to many of the neighborhood-wide issues we see in Kansas City's urban core today:

• property abandonment
• high crime and violence rates
• title issues
• lack of built generational wealth
• shortage of affordable housing
• low property values
• neighborhood blight
• and more.

7 Law Firms & 7 Neighborhoods

The Adopt-A-Neighborhood Project (AAN) is a collaborative project between Legal Aid of Western Missouri, seven private law firms and seven urban core neighborhoods in Kansas City. Each law firm "adopts" one of these neighborhoods, and volunteer attorneys provide free civil legal services to low-income residents, neighborhood associations and local non-profits that serve the neighborhoods. 

All seven participating neighborhoods were invited to join AAN because of their strong and active neighborhood association boards, lack of legal counsel and missions to serve low-income residents. Most of the neighborhoods are in areas that experience high rates of violent crime. A lack of access to legal services has led to many of the neighborhood-wide issues we see in Kansas City's urban core today, such as neighborhood blight, crime and violence. However, with access to the free legal services available through AAN, low-income residents and groups in these neighborhoods are empowered to effectively advocate for, mobilize and transform their communities into safe, stable environments for all to freely access and enjoy. 

The current participating firms and neighborhoods are partnered as follows: 

• Kutak Rock LLP/Neighbors United for Action
• Stinson LLP/Marlborough
• Polsinelli PC/Key Coalition
• Lathrop GPM LLP/Tri-Blenheim
• Dentons US LLP/Wendell Phillips & Downtown East
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP/Town Fork Creek
• Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP/Ruskin Heights.

10,000 Abandoned Properties

There are an estimated 10,000 abandoned properties scattered throughout Kansas City, Missouri that threaten neighborhoods' safety and stability. In addition to attracting vagrancy, prostitution, drug use and vandalism, research shows that violent crime increases by 15% within 250 feet of a vacant property. According to FBI data for major U.S. cities in 2017, Kansas City has the fifth-highest murder rate in the nation with 30.9 murders per 100,000 residents—a much higher rate than Chicago, which has 24.1 murders per 100,000 residents. 

A study by the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) shows that, between 2011-2014, 75% of homicides—as well as 75% of all other violent crime—took place in the urban core of Kansas City, a 34-square-mile area representing less than 11% of the city's total area. More recent data shows that between 2015-2018, 67% of all homicides occurred in this same area. KCPD noted that this specific area has a high concentration of vacant homes. 

Nationwide, the ratio of free legal services attorneys available to the number of low-income Americans who need one is 1 to 6,415. In civil cases you are not guaranteed legal representation if you cannot afford it, unlike in criminal legal matters. 

Inability To Access Legal Aid Leads To Neighborhood-wide Issues

Lack of estate planning has led to fractured real estate titles and abandonment, as well as loss of generational wealth. Lack of tenant representation has led to unjust evictions, often decreasing neighborhood and school attachment and dissolving communities. Abandoned properties attract illegal activities such as arson, drug use and sales, theft, prostitution and more.