Brandon Azim
Solutions ReporterI was raised on the East Side of Kansas City and feel a strong affinity to communities there. As KCUR's Solutions reporter, I'll be spending time in underserved communities across the metro, exploring how they are responding to their challenges. I will look for evidence to explain why certain responses succeed while others fail, and what we can learn from those outcomes. This might mean sharing successes here or looking into how problems like those in our communities have been successfully addressed elsewhere. Having spent a majority of my life in Kansas City, I want to provide the people I've called friends and family with possible answers to their questions and speak up for those who are not in a position to speak for themselves.
Contact me at brandonazim@kcur.org.
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Kansas City nonprofits need to feed more hungry people with less funding. Here's what they're tryingKansas City community kitchens are seeing higher demand as food prices remain high and COVID-19 assistance disappears. The food bank Harvesters is focusing on rescuing food waste as one way to shore up its supplies as demand rises, and donations are down. -
In the last few decades, urban schools in Kansas City have not kept up with other schools in their ability to offer high-level courses in computer science and coding. The nonprofit WeCode/KC has been providing primarily minority students access to education in a variety of tech areas for five years, in an effort to address this aspect of the digital divide. -
A 2020 Census survey found that 2.4% of potential voters didn’t cast a ballot because they couldn’t get to the polls. To address this problem, a number of local organizations are offering free or discounted rides for this Tuesday’s election. -
Extracurricular activities are limited for blind and visually impaired young students. That’s why Beep Kickball, a team sport using balls and bases that make sounds, has grown dramatically in popularity since the game came to Kansas City just over five years ago. -
Tenants in Quality Hill Towers and Independence Towers have dealt with deteriorating living conditions that have gone unaddressed for years. With no commitments from their landlords, the two tenant unions voted to begin withholding their rent this month. -
As part of its sweeping green infrastructure plan, Kansas City is transitioning to LED streetlights. The new bulbs are more efficient, last longer and reduce carbon emissions. But environmentalists say that the real solution to reducing carbon pollution is to shut down the coal-fired power plant that provides energy to Kansas City. -
Law students at UMKC's Expungement Clinic helped nearly 60 people clear their criminal records, giving them better opportunities for jobs and housing. But the clinic's funding ran out in January, leaving some formerly incarcerated people without hope. -
Kansas City, Kansas, finished the first 4-mile leg of the bike trail on the Armourdale levee in 2016. Now, it’s extending the trail. The levee trail is part of the county's effort to get more people outside and exercising, but some residents say lack of access has made trailheads difficult to find.
