Julia Williams
Julia Williams
Editor-in-Chief
A bitter wind chill didn’t stop this Northeast community from joining Mattie Rhodes Center Thursday afternoon, Dec. 5 for the grand opening and ribbon cutting of its new Violence Prevention Center location (5108 Independence Ave).
Mattie Rhodes Center (MRC) — a nonprofit, Kansas City organization — works to equip individuals and families across the Kansas City Metro with proper resources from social services and counseling to arts education, which they can use to succeed.
The organization itself was founded 127 years ago in honor of Mattie Florence Rhodes — a teenager who was dedicated to supporting youth and others in need around the end of the 19th century. Throughout its years, MRC has remained dedicated to her legacy — including offering support and education to foster a secure and inclusive environment, according to its website.
Operating on three core pillars — embrace inclusion, cultivate growth and inspire hope — MRC has gone on to expand its work into a multitude of umbrella programs, including ParateXPaz — or StandUp4Peace — Violence Prevention Program.
While MRC Manager of Public Safety Molly Manske said ParateXPaz started just over a year ago, the organization started the process of obtaining this new Independence Avenue location over three years ago.
Along with its street outreach team, ParateXPaz actively works to prevent violence within the Northeast — specifically within Indian Mound, Lykins and Sheffield neighborhoods and now, along Independence Avenue — including supplying individuals and families with resources to live without violence.
Various community members, businesses and neighborhood association presidents attended its opening ceremony on Thursday. The afternoon began with a welcome from Manske, as she thanked a few of MRC’s partners — including Healing House, Aim for Peace and the Independence Avenue Community Improvement District — and held a moment of silence for those who have lost their lives to gun violence.
Additional community members gave speeches at the ceremony including Rashid Junaid with the Kansas City Health Department, Relentless Pursuit Outreach and Recovery (RPOR) Executive Director Stephanie Wiley and MRC CEO and President, John Fierro, among others.
Manske said this new location will serve those who are victims of gun and sexual violence — already displaying a dedication to Reginald McGee and Nicholas Lewis, two men who lost their lives in March from gun violence.
“We make a promise to honor loved ones, to honor their legacy and use it as motivation to know who we’re doing this work for,” Manske said in a speech, Thursday. “Together we can do more.”
MRC was able to obtain this location in collaboration with the health department and the City of Kansas City which provided funding, Aim for Peace and its new neighbor — Stephanie Wiley and RPOR.
“This is what we are trying to do — provide support necessary, a safe place for kids to play, adults to get jobs,” Fierro said in a speech, Thursday. “Children can’t reach their potential without safety.”
Mattie Rhodes and its ParateXPaz program hopes to achieve this goal for the community in part through its street outreach team — a group of individuals who survey gas stations, knock on doors, cultivate relationships with local business owners and monitor areas within Northeast neighborhoods to ensure safety.
“We walk the streets, meditating for families who have violence,” said street outreach team member Melvin Fernandez in an interview, Thursday. “We’re mediators and violence stoppers.”
Fernandez said he has served with MRC for the past two years, which has included guiding people to resources and every other Wednesday, bringing food and comfort to others alongside Healing House.
When asked what ParateXPaz means to him and to the community, he said it provides a home for those who are shelterless.
Following speeches, smiles and applause broke out outside 5108 Independence Ave., as employees from MRC — including the ParateXPaz street outreach team — the City of Kansas City, RPOR and Jackson County COMBAT gathered together to cut a ribbon, officially marking the opening of this new violence prevention center.
“I’m glad to have [Mattie Rhodes] as a neighbor,” Wiley said in a speech, Thursday. “Welcome to the Avenue.”
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