Title
An Ordinance approving a Grant Agreement between the City of Lee's Summit, Missouri and the Missouri Department of Economic Development for Community Revitalization Matching Grant Program funding in order to help build a new youth center for Pro Deo Youth Center.
Body
In October of 2022, the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED) announced the availability of $94.15 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to help revitalize Missouri communities.
Staff knew of a need from a local nonprofit, Pro Deo Youth Center, to acquire a larger space to accommodate a rise in middle and high school aged teens needing their services. Pro Deo is currently operating out of a leased space with New Beginnings Church in Lee's Summit, which has a maximum occupancy of 44, much too small to serve a city with four middle schools and three high schools. Pro Deo provides free tutoring and counseling to teens who are homeless, hungry, suicidal, depressed, or have experienced a traumatic life event.
In late 2022, Pro Deo received a sizeable donation to help them acquire a new space. The City made them aware of the matching grant program opportunity through DED, and they expressed desire to work alongside the City to pursue it, applying the donation they received as the match for the grant application.
Pro Deo worked with a realtor and identified land for sale at 902 SE Douglas. Next, they had a pre-application meeting to discuss the project and location with the City's Development Services Department, and secured an architects services to help develop a project scope, project timeline, and cost estimate of $1,370,000. With the 1.37M, Pro Deo will purchase the property for sale at 902 SE Douglas St. (letter of intent between Pro Deo and the seller has been signed) and build a new youth center so they can meet the demands of the Lee's Summit community and hopefully save more teens lives.
In March of 2023, the City was notified it was awarded the requested ...
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