We answer the call.

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Who We Are

The 514 is a community development corporation rooted in Kansas City, MO. We believe lasting change happens on a first-name basis — through steady presence, honest work, and the quiet conviction that every neighbor belongs. We are here. We stay. We serve.

The 514 began the way most enduring things do — with a small group of neighbors who noticed what everyone else had learned to walk past. A young person without a mentor. A family one paycheck from losing their home. A man sleeping in the doorway of the church around the corner.

We are not a program or a project. We are a community development corporation, which is a practical name for something simple: we live here, we know our neighbors by name, and we organize the work no single family should have to do alone.

Our work is patient by design. Renewal is not an event; it is a habit of showing up. We believe in the long arithmetic of trust — the kind that turns a corner into a home, a home into a block, and a block into a neighborhood that remembers itself.

Everything we do is rooted in a single conviction: our neighbors are not problems to be managed. They are people to be known.

“We don’t serve needs. We serve neighbors.”

Our Work

Three program areas, one posture.

Homeless Outreach & Housing Stability

Street outreach, shelter referral, transitional housing coordination, and long-term case management for neighbors without a place to rest.

Youth Development

Mentorship, tutoring, arts programming, leadership development, and college readiness for young people ages 7 to 18.

Workforce Development

Job readiness training, vocational certifications, financial literacy, and resume support for neighbors seeking steady work.

Program 01

Homeless Outreach & Housing Stability

Meeting neighbors where they are, coordinating shelter referrals, and building bridges toward transitional and permanent housing.

Program 02

Youth Development

Tutoring, mentorship, and creative programming that helps young people find their voice and their footing.

Program 03

Workforce Development

Certifications, job coaching, and steady support so neighbors can build careers with dignity.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Matthew 5:14
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14

Our name is drawn from two verses that share a chapter and a verse — the fifth chapter, the fourteenth verse. One asks us to be visible. The other asks us to love the person nearest to us. Together, they describe the work.

Leadership

A small group, on a first-name basis.

Aaron Dixon

Executive Director & Founding Director

Cydney Harris

Director

Andrea Mitchell

Director

Happening Now

What we’re actively doing

Ongoing Community Care Drive flyer — The 514 supporting neighbors experiencing homelessness across Greater Kansas City

Ongoing Initiative

Ongoing Community Care Drive

Supporting neighbors experiencing homelessness across Greater Kansas City. We assemble practical care kits — packed into backpacks or five-gallon care buckets — and distribute them throughout the area. It is an ongoing commitment: whenever donations allow, kits go out the door.

When
Ongoing — kits are assembled whenever donations allow
Where
Distributed throughout Greater Kansas City
How you can help
Donate supplies, give financially, volunteer your time, or spread the word. Make a donation or sign up to volunteer below. 

Donate

Give steadily.

Every gift becomes shelter referrals, tutoring sessions, transitional housing coordination, certifications, and the small, ordinary supplies that make a program feel like a home. Recurring donations are the steadiest kind of help — they let us plan the year ahead.

Volunteer

Show up. Stay a while.

Care kit assembly evenings, community care drives, tutoring sessions, and an hour of presence with a neighbor who needs one. Tell us where you would like to begin.