CPD is proud to welcome Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) to our powerful network of grassroots affiliates! CCO is one of the leading organizations in the Kansas City region training grassroots community members to participate effectively in civic life and affect social change in their neighborhoods and communities. Founded in 1977 to confront the rapid racial transition and financial disinvestment in Kansas City's southeast neighborhoods, CCO is a social justice organization committed to building people and community power that ensures every person gets to experience human dignity. In fact, CCO’s mission is organizing communities for racial justice and social change, and these principles reflect the core of who they are and how they work.

CCO spans two states, six counties, 12 municipalities and over 100 area congregations representing thousands of individuals. Last year alone, CCO directly contacted 42,851 people in face-to-face conversations through neighborhood canvassing or door knocking, or through personal phone calls. Since their inception, CCO has worked with and among the low-income and vulnerable populations who experience the most drastic effects of healthcare, education, and racial inequity.

CCO has achieved several noted successes in the areas of economic justice, early-childhood education, community empowerment, healthcare access, and racial justice on behalf of working families and the diverse communities they serve. In addition to running a number of sophisticated campaigns, CCO is leading a series of community conversations on race. These sessions provide people with a safe place to have an honest community conversation with the intention of surfacing and confronting our individual and collective understanding of race, equity, discrimination and injustice.

Please join us in welcoming CCO to our network!