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Daisy Garcia Montoya 
Education Reporter

Northeast’s Indian Mound neighborhood has seen an increase of improvements in the last year, from the installation of smoke alarms in neighborhood houses, investments to Budd Park and the addition of speed bumps. 

Although these improvements have been completed through City funding, these projects have been a product of ongoing discussion among neighbors through Indian Mound Neighborhood Association (IMNA).

IMNA— which meets once a month to discuss general updates, bring guest speakers from different organizations and information to the neighborhood — states that it wants to hear from more voices in the neighborhood.

“The neighborhood’s in a position where there’s a lot of opportunity to have a voice and collaborate with other organizations to improve things. We want to hear from other people who live in the neighborhood, have ideas to make improvements and try to get people’s voices heard,” IMNA Secretary Dustin Fish said.  

For its first meeting of the 2026 year, which met at Jesucristo El Buen Pastor Church located at 4925 St. John Avenue on January 19th, the board held its first ever bilingual meeting (English and Spanish) as a way to attract and build Hispanic and Latino engagement. 

With 20 community members present, the meeting focused on highlighting projects from 2025, informing community members on how to get involved and a Know Your Rights presentation from Advocates for Immigrants and Refugee Rights (AIRR KC). 

With nearly 50% of Indian Mound residents being Latino/Hispanic, INMA says that engaging with the Spanish-Speaking community is crucial in order to reflect the demographics of the neighborhood. 

“It’s a desire we have had for quite a while of getting more engagement from Spanish-speaking families since 50% of the Indian Mound population speaks Spanish,” Fish said. “We’ve done a bit to engage with them but we haven’t had a meeting solely in Spanish.”

Fish stated that as secretary, monthly emails pertaining to the meetings are sent in English and Spanish for subscribers. One issue found is that only those who have subscribed to receive these emails will have access. 

As a solution, the board is looking to engage with more businesses, using them as a bridge to get more families subscribed or connected through flyers and word of mouth. 

During this meeting, community members heard details of the many projects and initiatives that took place in 2025. This included speedbumps added along St. John Avenue to decrease speeding, free bulky trash dumpsters every first Saturday of the month, May through September, more than one million dollars invested in renovations for Budd Park, as well as 70 smoke detectors through the Red Cross’s ‘Sound the Alarm’ program, in addition to other projects, improvements and events.

Present community members asked questions about getting involved and concerns they had.

During the second half of the meeting, AIRR KC shared a Know Your Rights presentation in Spanish, translated to English.

This presentation informed individuals on different branches within the Department of Homeland Security and their missions. Additionally, attendees learned about their constitutional rights reserved for citizens and undocumented individuals alike when interacting with law enforcement officers, particularly federal agents such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and how to create emergency plans. 

On inviting AIRR KC as their guest speakers for January, Fish says that the goal is to bring organizations that can provide helpful information and given that AIRR KC is a trusted organization among the Hispanic population, they deemed them a right choice for the first Spanish meeting. 

IMNA member Jesus Diaz, who volunteered to take on the role of translator during the January meeting, says that he hopes that with future engagement, IMNA can eventually host a Spanish version of the meetings. 

“I would like to help break that gap because sometimes it may be intimidating sitting in a meeting that’s all in English and not understanding some of the nuances that come with the discussions we are having,” Diaz said.

The association plans to increase their accessibility by either having bilingual meetings where everything is translated in real time again or hosting two meetings with the same content in both languages.

Additionally, efforts on broader communication and marketing are underway with an expanded  website including a calendar integrated for community members to check out upcoming events and information.

The creation of subcommittees, such as the current housing subcommittee, is another strategy INMA is working on to engage members based on their specific interest.

“The more the merrier. It is a safe environment and it’s a chance to voice your opinion to make our neighborhood better. The more representation, the more people we can get involved with, it’ll make others feel welcomed as well,” Diaz said. 

With an ‘open door’ policy, IMNA welcomes all individuals, as long as they are respectful and not disruptive, to sit in and hear about upcoming projects, proposals or events. 

It is not necessary to be an IMNA member to listen in on the meeting but in order to have voting rights on issues and projects, one must become a due-paying member. 

“The first meeting I attended, I wasn’t an official member and it wasn’t until later that I paid the dues and my wife and I joined,” Diaz said.

In order to be eligible for a membership, you must be a resident, property owner or tenant living in or operating a business within the boundaries of INMA (East- Belmont Blvd, West-Jackson Ave, North- Gladstone Blvd., South-Independence Ave) of legal voting age, and must pay the membership dues. 

For more information on how to get involved or become a member, visit https://imnakc.org/