What is a good neighborhood for young black family trying to raise their kids.. (Kansas City: house, neighborhoods)

[want to move somewhere]

I am thinking of relocating from Portland OR to Kanasas city area and would like to know a good part of town for a young black family trying to raise their kids in a good area but around other black people..any suggestions?

[kmflan]

Hi there and welcome
Are you looking for an urban, suburban or more rural area? School district preferences, public, private, or homeschool? While more black families seem to be in urban areas, many areas in and around KC are integrated. It's really a wonderful city with a lot to offer. Not quite as lush as Portland, though.

[want to move somewhere]

Suburban is good, maybe urban but not right downrown or anything.. I really want a good school, that is important to me, public school. I am not extremely well off or anything - i make around 38,000 a year, i am a single parent but I just want to live in a nice area that is well diversified.. thanks

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by want to move somewhere

Suburban is good, maybe urban but not right downrown or anything.. I really want a good school, that is important to me, public school. I am not extremely well off or anything - i make around 38,000 a year, i am a single parent but I just want to live in a nice area that is well diversified.. thanks

I would look at North Kansas City, or the eastern part of Independence, MO. On the Kansas side some more affordable areas would be Mission, Roeland Park, and Westwood.

[kcmo]

I would look into Raytown.

It's a very diverse area, yet very safe, suburban in nature and has good schools, or even great schools.

It's an inner ring suburb only about 10 miles from Downtown KCMO.

It's also affordable.

Lee's Summit is where most middle class black families are moving too, but that may be out of your price range and it's much further out.

Give Raytown a try, especially the east side of Raytown. You will find it's a very nice, yet diverse and modest area.

[kmflan]

I homeschool, but according to many of my friends, the better school districts are Lee's Summit on the MO side, and Blue Valley or Shawnee Mission on the KS side. As far as the North goes, I can't say as I don't personally know anyone with kids in those districts. Any of the cities that feed the three districts I mentioned would be affordable to you. They all have a wide variety of affordable and nice housing. And all of them have some amount of ethnicity and integration, though some more than others.

I am not a real-estate agent, but I would suggest contacting one and asking for a relocation package.

HTH

[kybo61]

Good morning! I live in KC Kansas, which is an affordable area, is diverse and quite an integrated and friendly mix (in my opinion), and has a vibrant African-American community. There are certainly neighborhoods in KCK to avoid, as anywhere. But pretty much almost anywhere west of 27th street the neighborhoods are well kept and the people are wonderful. I'm white, and live in a predominantly African-American neighborhood -- all my neighbors are absolutely angels, and it is a delightful place to live. I'm on medical retirement and make only about $22K a year and I live fairly comfortably. I don't know if you have a particular religious faith, but if you do there are lots of places to worship here. Within 5 blocks of my own house there are four black churches! Myself, I go to Trinity United Methodist, which has a large and diverse congregation and staff. If you would like to talk to someone personally about the community here in KCK I would invite you to call the church at 913-287-8500. Leif, our office manager, is a black man who has lived here a long time and knows a great deal about the community. Another wonderful resource who would be willing to talk to you is Arthurine, another staff member who is also African-American. She has been a social worker for the 16th District Court in KC Missouri for more than 20 years, and she lived in KC Kansas for 30+ years. She doesn't work full time at the church but Leif could arrange for her to call you if you wish. As for the schools here, I don't know since I don't have any kids. Leif has two boys, so he may be able to tell you something -- and Arthurine raised a son here who is now in college. I hope this will be helpful to you. If I can assist in any other way, you may write me at kcpeacenik@lycos.com We would be delighted to have you in our community!

[want to move somewhere]

Originally Posted by kybo61

Good morning! I live in KC Kansas, which is an affordable area, is diverse and quite an integrated and friendly mix (in my opinion), and has a vibrant African-American community. There are certainly neighborhoods in KCK to avoid, as anywhere. But pretty much almost anywhere west of 27th street the neighborhoods are well kept and the people are wonderful. I'm white, and live in a predominantly African-American neighborhood -- all my neighbors are absolutely angels, and it is a delightful place to live. I'm on medical retirement and make only about $22K a year and I live fairly comfortably. I don't know if you have a particular religious faith, but if you do there are lots of places to worship here. Within 5 blocks of my own house there are four black churches! Myself, I go to Trinity United Methodist, which has a large and diverse congregation and staff. If you would like to talk to someone personally about the community here in KCK I would invite you to call the church at 913-287-8500. Leif, our office manager, is a black man who has lived here a long time and knows a great deal about the community. Another wonderful resource who would be willing to talk to you is Arthurine, another staff member who is also African-American. She has been a social worker for the 16th District Court in KC Missouri for more than 20 years, and she lived in KC Kansas for 30+ years. She doesn't work full time at the church but Leif could arrange for her to call you if you wish. As for the schools here, I don't know since I don't have any kids. Leif has two boys, so he may be able to tell you something -- and Arthurine raised a son here who is now in college. I hope this will be helpful to you. If I can assist in any other way, you may write me at kcpeacenik@lycos.com We would be delighted to have you in our community!

I really appreciate all your information. Thank you a lot. If we end up in the area I will contact and visit the church.

[northbound74]

There's a lot of good places to choose from. KC gets flack sometimes for being too segregated, but I find that not to be the case, in most areas.
I second (or 3rd or 4th?) the Raytown suggestion. It's one of the most integrated suburbs. Nice little town.

[couragerqd]

If you do move to Raytown I would make sure to be more on the east side. We are on the west side and I am very unhappy with the school my children will go to if we stay. You can look at greatschools website and get information. The schools on the east side are consistently better that the schools on the west side with Blue Ridge and Southwood being the exception. Good luck. This the KC metro is a great place.