KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A nonprofit which helps struggling families find a path to self-sufficiency through dog grooming will break ground on a $8.5 million expansion Wednesday.
The Grooming Project will be able to serve more students and offer more services to the community from its new location at 5805 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri, which is down the street from its existing location.
Since 2016, The Grooming Project has trained people who’ve experience houselessness and other traumatic backgrounds to earn a state certification in dog grooming. The certification allows them to get a high-demand job and earn a livable wage to ultimately rise out of poverty.
The new facility will triple the nonprofit’s square footage allowing it to serve more than double the number of students. It currently accepts fewer than 10% of applicants partly because of a lack of space. The facility will also offer increased salon and doggie daycare services for the community.
“The new market rate pet daycare and graduate salon will provide much-needed earned revenue for our organization,” said Director of Communications Abby Jaskolski in a statement. “Our hope is that the new space will serve as a model for future national replication.”
The Grooming Project hopes to serve 80 graduates per year once the new facility opens.
The groundbreaking is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 15. Construction should be complete by January 2023.
