Climate Safe Neighborhoods
Explore Groundwork Northeast Revitalization Group's climate resiliency planning and advocacy work.
The Groundwork NRG Green Team taking the lead in maintaining the lot and area around the Turtle Hill Monument.
As part of the Climate Safe Neighborhoods (CSN) partnership, Groundwork NRG is working with residents and stakeholders to explore the relationship between the city’s history of housing segregation and the current and predicted impacts of the climate crisis.
Historical redlining maps and modern satellite imagery reveal a relationship between federal race-based housing segregation and vulnerability to extreme heat and flooding in Kansas City today. To address this relationship, Groundwork NRG is working closely with residents and stakeholders to build their capacity to self-advocate for climate adaptation measures.
Scroll down for a guided tour of our analysis, focus communities, and efforts to make Kansas City’s neighborhoods safer from extreme heat and flooding.
Left: Looking south at 7th Street and Everett Avenue in Turtle Hill, an area with low tree canopy cover. Right: An example of a landscape with significant tree canopy on Edith Avenue in northwest KCK.
What Does Race Have to do with the Climate Crisis?
Neighborhoods in Kansas City will not experience the impacts of climate change equally. Communities with fewer trees and green spaces are more vulnerable to heat and flooding, and those communities, nationwide, tend to be places where low-income residents and people of color live. It is no coincidence that these neighborhoods lack the green open spaces that mitigate heat and flooding. It’s the result of a long history of federal-instituted segregation.
Redlining and the US Government
In 1933, the federal government established the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) as part of a New Deal program to stabilize and encourage homeownership during and after the Great Depression through the introduction of long-term federally backed mortgages.
The HOLC provided guidance to private lenders on which neighborhoods were considered “safe” or “risky” for receiving loans. To develop this guidance, the federal government hired private surveying companies to develop “residential security maps” like the one below.
Original HOLC Residential Security Map for Kansas City, 1939
In addition to the quality of housing stock, race and ethnicity were the primary qualifiers of that risk. The “safest,” or greenlined, neighborhoods were graded A and contained high quality homes and “white” residents. The “riskiest,” or redlined, neighborhoods were graded D and contained poorer quality homes and African American, Eastern European and Southern Italian immigrants.
Residents in redlined areas could not receive loans to purchase homes in those neighborhoods. They were also prevented from buying homes in greenlined areas by realtors, lenders, and residents fearful of plummeting housing values. Neighborhoods of color saw property values drop or stagnate, and city-led improvements to infrastructure stalled. Today, nearly 75% of the neighborhoods graded as high-risk under the HOLC are low-to-moderate income, and 64% are neighborhoods of color.[ 1 ]
A Dangerous Legacy
How do the housing segregation practices of the past connect to the built environment of today? The bar graph below explores the relationship between modern tree canopy cover, impervious pavement, mean land surface temperature, and HOLC neighborhood grade for urban areas with redlining maps participating in the CSN partnership.
Participating CSN cities with redlining maps include: Denver, CO; Haverhill, MA; Kansas City, KS/MO; Milwaukee, WI; New Orleans, LA; Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls, RI; Richmond, VA; San Diego, CA; Union County, NJ; and Yonkers, NY. The values in this chart are normalized to allow comparison across cities. All of the raw values in the data set have been scaled from 0-100 by taking an individual value as a percentage of the range. The values were then averaged across all HOLC neighborhoods. The graph shows that on average for all participating CSN cities, tree canopy decreases with HOLC grade while impervious surface and land surface temperature increase as HOLC grade moves from A to D.
Moving from grade A to grade D, tree canopy cover (green) decreases, impervious pavement (grey) increases, and mean surface temperature (red) increases. While this graph does not directly address flooding, we do know that high amounts of pavement in a neighborhood increase the local risk of flooding.
The data suggests that there is a relationship between historical practices of redlining, community infrastructure, and exposure to heat and flood risk. Our neighborhoods do not look the way they do by accident, and we will not reduce disparities in exposure to heat and flooding by accident.
Historical Segregation and Environmental Risk
The following maps explore the relationship between federally endorsed HOLC neighborhood grades and three environmental factors associated with climate risk: tree canopy cover, impervious surfaces, and land surface temperature.
Residential Security Map
Legend from HOLC Residential Securities Map, Kansas City, 1939
By matching historical maps to their real-world locations using Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), the original images can be digitized and used for analysis. This HOLC “residential security map” of Kansas City was georeferenced by Mapping Inequality.[ 2 ] Here, it’s visualized on top of a base map of modern-day Kansas City.
Map: Original HOLC Residential Securities Map georeferenced by Mapping Inequality. Navigate the map by clicking and dragging. Zoom in and out using the “plus” and “minus” buttons on the bottom right. View the legend by clicking the circular button in the bottom left corner of the map.
Digital Redlining Boundaries
A schematic of the raster to vector conversion.
These boundaries have been digitized by Mapping Inequality from the original HOLC map. The line features are now living boundaries within which it is possible to conduct an analysis of other data layers. Here, we’ll be examining tree canopy cover, impervious surface, and surface temperature.
Map: HOLC Residential Securities Map boundaries digitized by Mapping Inequality.
Tree Canopy Cover and Impervious Surfaces
An example of a landscape with significant tree canopy on Edith Avenue in northwest KCK.
Tree Canopy: Neighborhoods with denser tree canopies are cooler on hot summer days than neighborhoods with less-dense tree canopies. Neighborhoods with more trees also have a reduced risk of flooding as stormwater seeps into the surrounding soil and is absorbed by plant roots. As a result, tree canopy reduces the risk of both heat and flooding.
Looking south at 7th Street and Everett Avenue in Turtle Hill, an area with low tree canopy cover.
Impervious Surfaces: Impervious surfaces, such as roads, sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways work against the cooling and flood mitigation benefits of trees. First, they prevent rain from being absorbed into the ground, increasing the pooling of water at the surface and stressing sewer systems, which can lead to sewer overflows. Second, they absorb and slowly release the sun’s heat back into the neighborhood- a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island Effect. Communities with more impervious surfaces can be several degrees hotter than neighborhoods with less pavement. Research conducted by Jeremy Hoffman and Vivek Shandas in 2020 found that formerly redlined neighborhoods are on average 4.5 ℉ hotter than their formerly greenlined counterparts. This difference can be as extreme as 20℉ within the same city.[ 3 ]
Map: Tree Canopy Cover and Impervious Surface from the National Land Cover Database 2016.[ 4 ] Each pixel in the image represents a 30 meter by 30 meter area on the earth's surface. The value of a cells color represents the percentage impervious surface or tree canopy cover in that square area. The greener the cell, the higher the tree canopy. The darker grey the cell, the more impervious surface.
Click the link below to compare surface temperature to redlining boundaries:
Surface Temperature
Low tree canopy cover and high impervious surface can lead to increased heat. In this map, the areas with deeper shades of red correlate to hotter surface temperatures on summer days between 2015 and 2020. In comparison to the previous map showing impervious surface and tree canopy, it is apparent that areas with fewer trees and more pavement tend to have higher surface temperatures. Furthermore, when HOLC boundaries are overlaid, we can see that areas with higher temperatures are more likely to be areas that were redlined in the 1930s.
Map: Mean Surface Temperature calculated by Groundwork Milwaukee using LANDSAT 8, 2015-2020, June-August, <20% cloud, no water. Calculated using code documented in the following article: Ermida, S.L., Soares, P., Mantas, V., Göttsche, F.-M., Trigo, I.F., 2020.Google Earth Engine open-source code for Land Surface Temperature estimation from the Landsat series. Remote Sensing, 12 (9), 1471.[ 5 ]
Click the link below to compare surface temperature to redlining boundaries:
HOLC Grades and Environmental Risk Factors
The graph below explores the relationship between tree canopy cover, impervious surface, mean surface temperature, and HOLC neighborhood grade in Kansas City. Moving from grade A to grade D, tree canopy cover (green) decreases, impervious cover (grey) increases, and mean land surface temperature (red) increases. While this graph does not directly address flooding, we do know that high percentages of impermeable pavement in a neighborhood increase the local risk of flooding.
Surface Temp and Impervious Surface increase as HOLC grade decreases while tree canopy increases with neighborhood grade.
The data suggests there is a relationship between historical practices of redlining, development of public infrastructure, and exposure to heat and flood risk in Kansas City.
Which Neighborhoods are More at Risk?
But what do we know about residents’ ability to deal with or bounce back from the impacts of climate change?
Heat Vulnerability Index
Using a common methodology that adopts a definition of vulnerability composed of measures of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, Groundwork developed a heat vulnerability index (HVI) based on work by Jeremy Hoffman in Richmond, VA.[ 6 ] The HVI considers surface temperature , tree canopy cover , impervious surface , and the percentage of households in poverty . Percentage of households living in poverty was chosen as a measure of adaptive capacity because the lowest-income residents in an area will find it most difficult to absorb the shock of extreme weather events (for example, paying medical bills associated with heat-related illnesses).
Map: A Heat Vulnerability Index considering exposure to risky environmental conditions (surface temp, pavement, low tree canopy) and the capacity to cope with the consequences of exposure (households in poverty). Indices allow us to consider multiple variables at once. By including social variables along with physical characteristics, we consider not only which physical places require investment, but also which residents should be prioritized.
Click the link below to the heat vulnerability index to redlining boundaries:
Heat and Flood Vulnerability
This map examines the intersection of heat and flood vulnerability. Block groups in the upper quartile of HVI values are red. Census block groups that are in the upper quartile of households in poverty (%) and intersect FEMA Flood Hazard Zones are green, and block groups that meet both conditions appear as purple. When the vulnerability maps are overlaid with , we see a relationship between redlined areas and low-income areas with high heat and flood vulnerability. Groundwork NRG has chosen to focus its advocacy efforts in Turtle Hill and Douglass/ Sumner because of their vulnerability to heat and flooding.
Map: High vulnerability or "priority" block groups. There are three categories: 1) block groups in the upper quartile of HVI, 2) block groups in the upper quartile of Households in Poverty (%) that intersect FEMA flood zones, 3) block groups that meet both conditions.
Click the link below to the heat vulnerability index to redlining boundaries:
An aerial image looking southeast over Turtle Hill.
Turtle Hill
Bounded by Jersey Creek to the north, Turtle Hill sits on the eastern slope of Kansas City, Kansas (KCK), and rolls down gently to the Missouri River. Similar to many of the neighborhoods adjacent to downtown KCK, Turtle Hill got its start as a streetcar suburb of Kansas City, MO (KCMO), where workers would commute across the Missouri River to KCMO, or down to the factories in the Fairfax Industrial District on the Kansas side.
The Turtle Hill Neighborhood in KCK.
Liberatory Heritage
Statue of abolitionist, John Brown, at the former site of Western University (originally known as, Quindaro Freedman's School), a historically black college established in 1865 which was the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River.
Starting in the mid 19th century, a time of rapid eastern migration to the free state of Kansas, Northeast KCK had been a port of entry for all seeking a new life in the west, in particular Black people escaping enslavement in Missouri. The history and heritage of this section of KCK reflects this critical role, not just in the Underground Railroad, but in the country’s fight for the abolition of slavery.
Right: The Western University football team, known as the Bulldogs, 1924-25. The University provided a four year education to Black students from 1865 until it closed in 1943.
Deep Roots
For over a century, KCK has drawn immigrants from Central America, Eastern Europe and the Eastern United States. While there is no true ethnic majority in Northeast KCK, Turtle Hill and the nearby Douglass/ Sumner Neighborhood have historically been home to Black families who built homes and wealth late in the 19th century, and early 20th century. The legacy of these families is reflected today in the gorgeous stone and brick architecture found throughout the neighborhood. A more vibrant reflection of that legacy however, may be the strong ties between neighbors whose families have lived in the area for generations, and who have deep roots in the land.
Map: A race dot density map for Kansas City (ACS 2019).
Resilience in the Face of Disinvestment
A mural in the Turtle Hill Community Garden.
The Northeast KCK area is rich with local eateries and historical sites that tell the fascinating story of KCK. KCK is a testament to strength and resilience. Turtle Hill experienced hard times as a result of decades of disinvestment, redlining, white flight and the development of shopping centers in western Wyandotte County that drew money from the nearby downtown commercial district. However, the community is as strong as ever. One example of this resilience is the Turtle Hill Community Garden and Orchard. This resident-led asset provides an important public green space to the neighborhood and serves as a source of fresh local food for residents. Working families and elderly residents appreciate the calm and quiet sense of community that characterizes this neighborhood.
Right: The Turtle Hill Community Garden.
Third Spaces and Green Infrastructure
Resources and funds have also gone into remediating a formerly-vacant lot on the corner of Sixth Street and Washington Boulevard. Turtle Hill and nearby Douglass/ Sumner have been leaders in the development of pocket parks that serve as valuable third spaces where residents gather and rest comfortably outdoors while also providing green infrastructure that helps manage some of the worst effects of climate change. Arborvitae trees line Washington Boulevard to create privacy and manage the air quality for neighbors enjoying the benches and tables. A granite monument to the neighborhood welcomes passersby and lets all know that the people who live in the neighborhood are proud to say they are from Turtle Hill.
Right: The Groundwork NRG Green Team taking the lead in maintaining the lot and area around the Turtle Hill Monument.
An aerial image looking northwest over Douglass/ Sumner.
Douglass/ Sumner
Douglass/ Sumner has been a hub of Black wealth and culture for over a century. The neighborhood is defined by the high school in its center, Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Douglass/ Sumner Neighborhood in KCK.
Sumner Academy
The Sumner High School faculty, 1919.
Sumner Academy is a nationally ranked magnet school that was opened as Kansas’ first all Black high school in 1905, during a period of racial tension. Originally named Manual Training High School by the city, Black residents were unsatisfied with the name, and changed it to Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences. The choice was made to honor Charles Sumner, an abolitionist and senator from the mid 19th century who fought for the rights of Black people during reconstruction.
Left: A chemistry class at Sumner High School in the 1930's.
Youth-Led Green Space Action
Groundwork NRG's Green Team and Sumner Academy students host a neighborhood workday at 710 Oakland Avenue.
Similar to Turtle Hill, Douglass/ Sumner has seen some decline in the 20th century due to decades of disinvestment. Douglass/ Sumner is also similar to Turtle Hill in the commitment of its residents to the land, to the neighborhood, and to each other. Students from Sumner Academy participate actively in restoring and remediating vacant lots. These activated green spaces demonstrate the usefulness of pocket parks for beautifying the neighborhood, and the usefulness of green infrastructure in mitigating heat and flooding.
Left: Residents of Douglass/ Sumner preparing for a neighborhood clean up outside Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Demonstration Garden and Tool Sharing
Demonstration Garden: One example of this youth-led neighborhood investment is the demonstration garden at 710 Oakland Avenue. Here, the Groundwork NRG Green Team, made up of employed students, constructed and continues to maintain a demonstration garden full of native perennials, trees and grasses. The demonstration garden helps to manage stormwater runoff and cool an area that is otherwise hot and covered in pavement.
Tool Lending Library: In addition to the demonstration garden, students from Sumner Academy also run a tool lending library at 710 Oakland Avenue. This has been a boon for residents who now have the opportunity to share and borrow tools for yard work and minor home repair. The residents of Douglass/ Sumner are leaders in Northeast KCK, building communities across neighborhood lines in a way that preserves and elevates the rich multicultural heritage of the area.
Left: Groundwork NRG's Green Team planting native flowers, trees, and grasses at 710 Oakland Avenue, Douglass/ Sumner.
Groundwork NRG in Turtle Hill and Douglass/ Sumner
Throughout Northeast KCK, Groundwork NRG has deep roots and a rich track record of engaging the community around resident-driven projects. In particular, Douglass/ Sumner and Turtle Hill neighborhoods have a special place in our hearts. Neighbors here work closely with the Groundwork NRG’s Green Team, many of whom are Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences students, in developing plans for green infrastructure projects throughout the community.
Exposure to Heat and Flooding
Minnesota Avenue, the historic downtown business district in Kansas City, KS is a rich hub for local food and shopping, but has suffered over the years from white flight and the development of new shopping centers farther west in Wyandotte County.
Douglass/Sumner and Turtle Hill– both formerly redlined neighborhoods – experience higher instances of extreme heat and flooding than other communities in the Kansas City metro area. Located not far from KCK’s Minnesota Avenue business corridor, these neighborhoods have low tree canopy cover and high amounts of impermeable pavement, both of which contribute to hotter temperatures and more severe flooding.
Map: Tree canopy cover and impervious surface from the NLCD 2016.
Click below to view surface temperature.
Disproportionate Consequences
Partnering with local non-profit, Bridging the Gap, Groundwork NRG planted dozens of trees along Jersey Creek Parkway, which will provide shade and flood management in coming decades.
For residents in Turtle Hill and Douglass/ Sumner, the lack of trees and prevalence of pavement mean utility bills are set to increase disproportionately to residents in other neighborhoods as the number of days over 90 degrees become more frequent. The additional exposure to heat can be expected to increase medical bills from heat-related emergency room visits for residents who already suffer from inadequate housing and limited access to healthcare. Flooding will also have an outsized impact in the two neighborhoods. As extreme precipitation overloads storm water management systems and flooding damages homes, a common occurrence along Jersey Creek, residents in these neighborhoods will also lose more money to property repairs.
Map: CDC 500 Cities data showing the prevalence of adults without access to health insurance, 2020. Residents without health insurance are more vulnerable to exposure to extreme heat and flooding.
Click below to view KCK neighborhoods with health insurance access:
Peer Learning Groups
Climate Safe KCK peer learning groups are working with communities that have traditionally been left out of climate mitigation and adaptation conversations. In our peer learning groups, residents will convene to build relationships, develop their power as community stakeholders, share their experiences and concerns and develop a shared set of desired solutions to keep their communities safer from the climate crisis.
Right: Green Team youth gathering neighborhood input regarding what residents would like to see on the 710 Oakland Avenue green infrastructure demonstration lot.
Inclusive, Equitable Action
Groundwork NRG is committed to inclusive action rooted in the principles of equity, community cohesion, institutional transparency, and environmental justice. Climate Safe Neighborhoods will continue in this commitment, guided by the principle that those closest to the problem are often closest to the solution.
Right: Students from Sumner Academy expanding green infrastructure in Turtle Hill.
Groundwork NRG's Rain Barrel Community Workshop with Green Team, ECHO members and KCK residents.
Environmental Community Health Organization
As part of the Climate safe Neighborhoods Partnership, Groundwork NRG facilitated Peer Learning Groups that engaged 30 residents in co-learning about the effects of increased heat and flooding due to climate change in Northeast KCK. Inspired by the learnings of the Peer Learning Groups, residents established ECHO (Environmental Community Health Organization), a resident advocacy group to address extreme heat and flooding in Northeast KCK. In partnership with KCK residents, Groundwork NRG and Sierra Club, ECHO currently has two Working Groups focused on energy and green infrastructure that meet twice a month for learning and advocacy.
Green Infrastructure Working Group
Groundwork NRG's Rain Barrel Community Workshop with Green Team, ECHO members and KCK residents.
The Green Infrastructure Working Group is focused on pushing the Unified Government Public Works Department to implement a more equitable 25-year Sewer Improvement Plan (SIP). This includes committing to more resident centered community engagement and aggressively pursuing federal funding to make the project happen faster, greener, and cheaper. ECHO has successfully fought the proposed flooding of Big Eleven Lake, a historic park and cultural center, and continues to advocate for greater community engagement and investment in green infrastructure as part of the SIP.
As an initiative of the Green Infrastructure Working Group, ECHO will soon launch a Tree Equity Pilot Project that will engage residents to plan and implement tree planting and data collection around an elementary school, senior apartment complex, and public park.
Energy Working Group
ECHO's Board of Public Utility Board of Directors Candidate Forum.
The Energy Working Group was established with the recognition that residents in Northeast KCK are among the most energy and tax burdened in the state of Kansas. High utility bills, combined with water and utility shut off puts residents’ ability to remain resilient during extreme heat and flooding events at risk. ECHO members are advocating for the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to commit to greater community engagement with KCK residents, and to work with residents and the City Council to pursue federal funding to lower utility bills that would lead to greater climate resilience. As a result of ECHO’s advocacy, the BPU has created the Community Ambassadors, a public utility community advisory board.
Coordinator Profile: Blue Tyx
Blue Tyx, Groundwork NRG's Climate Justice Organizer.
Blue Tyx’s role as Climate Justice Organizer at Groundwork NRG focuses on centering the voices of those who experience the impacts of extreme heat and flooding most directly in discussions about environmental justice and city planning.
Blue comes to Groundwork NRG with two decades of experience in education, journalism, and community-driven change. As a reporter in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, he covered grassroots efforts to demand adequate drainage in unincorporated rural communities that routinely experience catastrophic flooding, as well as to reunite parents and children torn apart by the family separation crisis–experiences that inspired him to want to participate in grassroots advocacy more directly. Later, he taught at a bilingual Quaker school in Costa Rica, where he collaborated with students and colleagues to document and bring awareness to the existential threat facing the cloud forest ecosystem. Most recently, he developed place-based Spanish and Creative Writing curricula as a middle school teacher in the historic Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas.
As Climate Justice Organizer, he is especially interested in learning about how climate change affects the daily lives of northeast Kansas City, Kansas residents, so that we can organize for solutions that make a real, immediate, and lasting impact.
Get Involved
Tackling climate change in a way that benefits everyone has to be a community-led effort. Join the movement to become part of the solution! Email Blue (btyx@northeastkck.org) today to learn more about how you can get involved.
