Marvita Oliver

Kansas City, MO

We want to deal with the racial divide that has been...kept going—especially when you look at Troost—in east of Troost and west of Troost, and other areas. We want to look at education. We have some schools that aren’t acredited and other schools that are really struggling. We have to be really intentional about starting conversations and building community. Some of the ways that this is being done right now is with the community gardens. Data shows that community gardens actually build community awareness.

The last thing is…There’s a lot of anger going on and it’s cause by what they were talking about, as far as polarity. If we realize that anger is out there, we can defuse it. We don’t have to buy into it. You can understand “I’m not going with that” and present a more peaceful dialogue. I think you might be surprised what a difference, what an impact that can make.