Elizabeth Orosco
Northeast News

After three and a half years as Director of Northeast Alliance Together, Mary Cyr has stepped down to pursue a different career opportunity. Cyr says she has thoroughly enjoyed her time in the community, is thankful for what this position has taught her, and hopes to see the community continue to grow.

She has accepted the Executive Director position with The Downtown Overland Park Partnership. Her last day with NEAT was Monday, March 25.

Founded in 2010, Northeast Alliance Together (NEAT) is Northeast Kansas City’s emerging Community Development Corporation that is closely aligned with Mattie Rhodes Center. NEAT facilitates resources for the Historic Northeast community, works with neighborhoods and businesses, and spearheads important projects related to the community. NEAT serves Independence Plaza, Indian Mound, Lykins, Pendleton Heights, Scarritt Renaissance, and Sheffield neighborhoods.

Previously, she served as President of Cyr Architecture and Construction for sixteen years, as well as Managing Member of Cyr Nonprofit Consulting which delivered project-directed services to mission-driven clients in the areas of strategic planning, agency assessment, collaboration and consensus-building, facility planning, and community development.

Cyr was hired on as NEAT’s first Director in September 2015, and spent the next three years advancing public safety, livability, commercial and residential development, and economic development in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast.
She advocated for the neighborhoods on many projects and policies, including the organization of the State of the Northeast Forum and the NEHS Youth Summit. She also oversaw the hiring of several AmeriCorp VISTAS, including Michelle Hatch, Ana Ramirez, Christina Gonzalez, and most recently, Gabe Glaser and Alice Nelms, all who worked on behalf of the neighborhoods.

Mary also worked closely with Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner to spearhead the scrap metal ordinance that saw new policies put in place to address the problem of criminal scrappers in the Northeast.

“Mary has been a great advocate for Northeast and has done a wonderful job in her position at NEAT,” said Wagner. “It has been a pleasure to work with her on issues important to the neighborhoods.  I wish her well in her new position.”

While she worked to band the neighborhoods together, Cyr said she stepped back as much as possible.

“I connected to the Northeast through the Neighborhood Associations and wherever possible, I got out of the way and let the neighborhoods do things for themselves. One example was working on the housing policy; the neighborhoods just picked it up and ran with it. I was aware of how far back I was able to step and I think that was when I was most aware of the idea of capacity building.”

Cyr said working with various neighborhoods on different issues presented its challenges, but she gained tangible skills from the experience.

“It’s taught me to be pretty thick-skinned. Each neighborhood is like an individual; they have their own personalities and different ideas on different issues.”

Cyr said the strength of the Northeast lies in its diversity and numerous assets.

“It’s such a wonderful place with so many different people,” she said. “You start at the Paseo and drive down Independence Avenue and it changes as you move through it. There’s more Asian/African stores, then as you move into Indian Mound and Sheffield, there’s more Latino-based businesses. I think that’s an asset. We also have the Kansas City Museum and a lot of public schools. A lot of our families here use the Kansas City school system. There’s also a real desire on the part of everybody to make the community the best that it is. The people that live here, they aren’t happy with just letting the status quo stay that way. They are really committed to improving the community.”

Cyr’s new role will be moving her to Johnson County, but she says she still has a vision for the Northeast.

“I’d like to see these development projects get built, including some high-quality, affordable housing. I’d like to see the Independence MAX come through. I’d like to see the Kansas City Public Schools making sure that every third grader is literate, and I’d like to see Kansas City Police have more resources. They do an incredible job, but the crime up here is a problem. It’s keeping people away.”

Deborah Bayless with the Center for Conflict Resolution, who worked with Cyr in the community, said working with Cyr has been a pleasure.
“Her commitment to positive community building projects is reflected in her efforts to build relationships in the neighborhoods and agencies who are in the Northeast of Kansas City,” she said. “Where there are conflicts, Mary sees opportunities to bring the parties together to resolve their differences and move forward together with new understanding.”

John Fierro, CEO of the Mattie Rhodes Center, said Cyr had a big challenge in establishing herself as the Director of the program.

“In terms of developing new relationships with resident leaders and business owners and civic officials,” he said, “I feel that she did a very good job of establishing the presence of NEAT. Now, individuals, if you ask them if they’ve heard of NEAT, the answer typically is yes, so I think she’s done a great job in establishing the brand of NEAT.”

Fierro said Cyr brought several unique experiences to the table, highlighting her background as an architect.

“She brought to the NEAT programs and the neighborhoods a very strong planning background, a broad experience working with engineers and other architects and developers, and those competencies were very beneficial as she was able to assess opportunities that were being presented to the Northeast community. I believe she has done a good job.”

That skillset, he said, opened up several doors for the organization and community as a whole.

“This year, we will be building our first affordable home in the Indian Mound area that she was very instrumental in securing home dollars for. She was able to leverage some donations from  students from Kansas State University that are going to pre-fabricate parts of the home, which will then allow us the opportunity to build something of high quality without us having to raise additional dollars. Her securing that resource through K-State was huge and instrumental. Her experience that she brought to the table allowed for those conversations to happen. Also, she has been working with developers who are interested in partnering with NEAT and Mattie Rhodes on some affordable housing developments so we are currently assessing those opportunities.”

NEAT has not yet found a new Director, and there is no timeline in place yet as to when a new one will be hired, but Cyr said there are certain qualities she hopes to see in the person taking over her role.

“The person would have to understand how a development project goes together or want to know that. It’s knowledge you have to have. The other thing is learning how to balance a variety of different projects; there are a lot of different things going on. Also dealing with different personalities, making sure, as best you can, to address everyone’s needs in where they want the Northeast to go.”

Fierro said he does not want to rush the process of finding a new Director, to ensure the right person is secured for the role.

“In terms of a timeline,” he said, “we do not want to rush. We want to make sure that we hire an individual that really can come in with some pre-established relationships with the Northeast community. What we’ve learned over the last three years is that, while you may have someone with Mary’s talent, it is challenging when you bring in somebody that doesn’t live in the neighborhood, nor has had prior history in the community. So that is one quality we are looking for, but we want to take our time.”