Northeast News
Jan. 6, 2010

Bobbi Baker Hughes, Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce president, said she considers 2009 a banner year for the Northeast business community.

Despite the nation’s economic turmoil, the business leaders of NEKCCC have come together to plan for the future of the Independence Avenue corridor; focus on minority, ethnic and refugee-owned businesses; work with the Kansas City Police Department on projects; and build networks through the chamber committees.

“We worked very hard in trying to let the Northeast businesses know the chamber is there to help them, fill their needs,” Baker Hughes said.

By bringing a minority, ethnic and refugee business coordinator into the chamber staff, attracting an immigrant business owner, Muhubo Jama, to the chamber board of directors and highlighting the various ethnic businesses on the avenue through the International Business Crawl in July, the chamber has reached out to new people this year.

“I’m just really excited to see some involvement from some newer, smaller businesses,” Baker Hughes said. “Working with a lot of our small businesses is a lot different than working with Central Bank or the other larger businesses. I think they really appreciate the small-focus things the chamber is trying to do.”

Continuing that small-focus theme into the New Year, Baker Hughes said the chamber plans to host several workshops for small businesses, called Coffee and Computers. The first free Coffee and Computers workshop – so called because they will be morning workshops over breakfast – will be Thursday, Jan 28, at the North-East branch of the Kansas City Library and will offer an introduction to using the Internet to benefit small businesses.

Additionally, the chamber has worked extensively in 2009 with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in the planning stages of improving the Independence Avenue corridor. The plan to brand the corridor as the International Marketplace of Kansas City first came to fruition through the business crawl, which brought attention to the diverse businesses in the area of Independence and Prospect avenues.

“I hope to do that again,” Baker Hughes said. “It was great for the businesses and for residents to come and see what our businesses have to offer.”

One committee of the chamber, the Health, Education and Safety Consortium, has grown considerably in 2009. The group has been active in bringing together and identifying various resources in the community.

Working with the KCPD this year, the chamber businesses have benefited from the new Spanish language program that has Spanish-speaking officers networking with Hispanic business owners to prevent crime and the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design program, through which an officer will evaluate the safety of residences and businesses from an environmental standpoint.

One of the highlights of the year, Baker Hughes said, was honoring one of Northeast’s longest-running businesses, Dairy Queen on Independence Avenue. The chamber and mayor together threw a party for John and Esther McMurray, who have owned the DQ for 30 years.

“The things we’ve done this year are brushing aside the cobwebs so we can see next year more clearly and we can keep on doing what we’re doing next year,” Baker Hughes said.

In 2010, she said, the chamber may host another business crawl, boost the Coffee and Computers program, continue to work with MER businesses, and use a newly donated bus to create Northeast tours, such as possibly a Taste of Northeast restaurant tour.

“Bringing the community together is always one of my No. 1 focuses,” she said.