KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new ordinance could send $458,000 in marijuana sales tax revenue toward a violence prevention program in Kansas City. It comes as the city sits exactly where it was three years ago, 140 homicides.
"I used to say the inner city is a gold mine and it is a gold mine because there's a lot of wisdom, a lot of young people, a lot of hope among these people, but we're so divided," said Pastor Dennis Lenley, who lives on the east side.
When you've spent your life in one neighborhood, like Pastor Dennis Lenley, you see it through its ups and downs.
"My grandfather bought this home in 1955," he said. "I used to be in this neighborhood when I was a little boy."
He said he has never seen crime on the east side as bad as it is now.
Kansas City is on track to break a record number of homicides, which was last set in 2020, according to the Kansas City's Public Safety Director Melesa Johnson.
"If you look at the crime stats from this year, the vast and overwhelming majority of homicides, stem from a simple argument," said Johnson.
That's what the city's Aim4Peace program is trying to prevent.
"They connect vulnerable residents at the center of crime to restorative social services," Johnson said.
Sitting on his porch, Pastor Lenley has seen Aim4Peace canvassing the neighborhood, passing out fliers and going door to door.
He's also seen people walk by and stop to read a sign in his yard — Acts 16:31.
"That sign is telling you what the answer is [to crime]. Christ is the answer. It tells an individual there is hope and the only hope is Jesus Christ," he said
That's an answer to crime he knows everyone doesn't agree with, but if Aim4Peace does receive extra funding, he wants them to consider more work with youth in schools.
In the meantime, he will continue to spread not just his love.
"I try to let people know something about Jesus," he said. "John 3:16, for God so loved the world."
He'll also spread the hope people need to see.
"We need to come up with something to harness these young people we're losing. We're losing a lot of young lives," he said.
Aim4Peace's funding was approved by the finance committee, but it will still have to be approved by city council. The funding is possible because a third of the state's marijuana sales tax revenue is allocated toward violence prevention.
Johnson said they want to use the funds to increase staffing so they can cover more neighborhoods beyond the East Patrol Division. They are hoping in the next six months, they will receive another $500,000 in funding from marijuana sales tax revenue.
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