Funding delay likely to double timeline for KC Mayor’s Commission on Reparations

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Kansas City's Mayor's Commission on Reparations first met in May of 2023 they said they planned to complete their work and submit recommendations within 18 months. 18 months later, the Chair says they are still likely at least 18 months away from that goal.

"May 23, 2023 the first reparations commission meeting Hallelujah," Janay Reliford, KC Reparations Coalition member, cheered as she detailed the past three years of working leading up to that first meeting.

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The Mayor's Commission on Reparation and their 13 members say they were strong out of the gate with ideas of how they could address past wrongs, ongoing patterns of discrimination, and create tools for an equal opportunity for Kansas Citians.

"Our task is really to come up with what are the reparations, what is the repair required to address those disparities that may have been caused at the city's hands." Health Subcommittee Chair Bridgette Jones reiterated the commission's goals Wednesday.

An ordinance approved in January of 2023 gave the commission one year from the time of its first meeting to submit preliminary findings and another six months after that to issue a final report with recommendations to the city on justice for past harm and discriminatory practices against Kansas City's Black community.

Chair Terri Barnes says they've faced challenges from the public since they started meeting with Pew research saying only 29% of Americans support reparations.

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"There are still so many questions about why are we doing reparations, reparations are not necessary, who is going to pay for it? That's probably going to be the biggest question people have," Barnes said.

But their biggest challenge proved to be the funding needed for their own investigations. They expected it quickly, but it took more than a year to get a $360,000 allocation of the $510,000 the commission requested.

"I'm excited to say that today we just posted our RFP (request for proposal) for an investigator to begin the work," Barnes said.

They hope to get that investigator hired in the next 30 to 45 days. Barnes said while they are well behind their goal, the past 18 months were valuable as they studied efforts across the country.

She spoke with FOX4 before a health subcommittee listening session where filmmaker Kevin Wilmott screened his documentary about Truman Medical Center's historic separate black and white hospitals.

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"As a dramatist if I wrote that someone would say come on man, there's a tunnel underground that connects the two hospitals," he told the crowd.

A second session will be held on Saturday, November 16 at 1:00 p.m. at the Paseo Academy auditorium, 4747 Flora Ave. They will discuss education reparations and the misinterpretations surrounding African-centered schools.