Ron Evans used to walk with his grandmother — as she clutched her purse — past the intersection of Troost Avenue and Armour Boulevard because she didn’t feel safe walking to Save A Lot alone.At that very same intersection, Urban Restaurant (formerly Urban Cafe) now hosts dinner guests as part of a pocket of redevelopment that includes several apartment complexes and a Chase Bank branch.“The first time she came in here, she was blown away at how nice everything was,” says Evans, co-owner of Urban Restaurant. “When she walked back out on the street her first words were, ‘I almost forgot where I was.’”For a woman who lived through decades when crossing Troost was effectively restricted for people of color, forgetting where she was illustrates just how much things have changed.Brandon Calloway hopes to give more people a chance to see that transformation firsthand on Aug. 15. He has invited the public to join him for the Troost Equity Walk as he treks the length of Troost from Truman Road to Bannister Road.
“Troost is not scary,” says Calloway. “It is a hub for Black businesses.”
Calloway, co-founder of the nonprofit Kansas City G.I.F.T. (Generating Income for Tomorrow), will highlight 24 Black-owned businesses along the 10-mile stretch, including several that have seen grant funding or business support from his organization.
Economic scars starting to heal
Historically, Troost functioned as Kansas City’s racial dividing line. Redlining and racially discriminatory lending practices such as those outlined in Richard Rothstein’s bestselling book “The Color of Law,” contributed to systematically higher levels of poverty along and east of Troost, which in turn have contributed to the street’s reputation.A 2018 NBC News analysis found that households one block east of Troost earn $20,000 less annually and residents live 15 years less on average than those one block west of Troost. A 2023 Mid-America Regional Council report showed that the historic discrimination in housing still impacts the region today and contributes to concentrated poverty and an unofficial but entrenched geographic racial divide…