KANSAS CITY, Mo — Four-hundred middle schoolers from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy spent the last two days at Harris Park learning life lessons through playing sports and participating in interactive workshops.
Chris Harris, the founder and creator of Harris Park, says his hope is to change the way people see and think about the area on the east side of Troost Avenue.
He has been running a two-day event for decades, exposing younger generations to a different part of town and changing their mindsets through positive association like sports.
“I was used to blight," Harris said. "These kids are used to this now. And watch how far that goes, you know?”
After he retired from his basketball career, he wanted to create a platform where he could teach others the valuable life lessons that he learned through the sport.
To help carry out the mission, Harris bought chunks of land and turned it into green spaces where he can host the kids.
“I wouldn’t have learned the lot in life without that game, so I was like if this game can teach me, I can go give this back to someone else," he said.
Harris believes children become where they live. If they live in blight, they become blight. If they live in a beautiful green space, that is what they will put out into the world.
“I just really found the greenery, really nice over here,” said 14-year-old Jackson Mabin, who attended Harris' event.
Kids who attend the event learn about values like time management, finances and perseverance, but most importantly to see themselves in places that are thriving and growing.
Harris wants the confidence that comes from that to translate into their lives.
“Take a chance and do it," Mabin said. "Even if you feel uncomfortable, even if you are a little anxious — take a chance."
Harris says it was especially important for him to build a golf course, after he personally felt embarrassed during a situation when he did not know the rules of the game.
He wanted to make a sport, historically only for the elite, available in a community he used to call “blight.”
“It’s not really exposed to our demographic and it’s not a common sport you see in teens like us,” said 14-year-old Jackson Lewis, who also attended Harris' event.
Lewis tried golf for the first time at the event. He says there is importance in exposure and accessibility regardless of interest.
“I definitely think it’s very important to be exposed to certain things you are not used to, or haven’t seen before," Lewis said. "Just for a different point of view."
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