Meet the 2026 Visionary Award finalists

Brennan Crawford

Executive Director & CEO, Build WyCo

Building community wealth, one neighborhood at a time

As CEO of Build WyCo, Brennan Crawford has helped expand the organization from its roots in housing into a comprehensive community development institution. Today, Build WyCo connects housing development and homeownership with lending, financial counseling, legal support, construction, real estate services and community engagement, creating multiple pathways for residents to build stability and wealth.

Under Crawford’s leadership, the organization has built, renovated or repaired more than 800 homes and helped nearly 1,000 families become homeowners. Its growing toolkit also includes a community land trust and community lending programs designed to expand access to ownership and capital. Together, these efforts reflect Crawford’s broader vision for community development: invest in neighborhoods while creating more ways for the people who call them home to participate in and benefit from their growth.

Leadership in action

Build WyCo’s community land trust and community lending work illustrate Crawford’s systems approach. The land trust creates another pathway to affordable homeownership, while the organization’s lending programs expand access to capital for residents and small contractors. Together with financial counseling, housing development and other services, these tools create multiple entry points for people to build financial capability, ownership and wealth.

Innovation, in my experience, is rarely about inventing something new. It is about seeing connections that others might miss and integrating tools in ways that produce greater impact.

— Brennan Crawford
Executive Director & CEO, Build WyCo

What nominators shared

“Brennan is always quick to remind stakeholders to notice who might be missing from the table, especially when that table does not include the very people it is convened to discuss.”

“He has become a sought-after voice of trusted, transparent leadership.”

About Build WyCo

Build WyCo invests in the power of neighbors to build communities that thrive for generations. Its work brings together housing development and homeownership, lending, financial counseling, construction and real estate services, neighborhood engagement and other strategies designed to strengthen opportunity and quality of life across Wyandotte County.

Alana Henry

Executive Director & CEO, Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

Growing opportunity from the neighborhood up

At the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, Alana Henry is helping turn deep community knowledge into lasting opportunity.

Under her leadership, Ivanhoe has strengthened its role as a trusted neighborhood anchor, bringing residents together around food access, housing, youth and senior services, financial assistance and community development. In a single year, the organization hosted more than 175 events reaching more than 2,200 neighbors, while partnerships across Kansas City have expanded the reach and staying power of its work.

Henry is particularly passionate about building systems that allow residents to shape and benefit from their community’s future. She created the KC Farmers Market Passport to connect more people with local farmers and fresh food while directing dollars to growers. Her advocacy has also helped advance a dedicated city food-systems planner position and new investment in urban agriculture. Through Ivanhoe’s partnership with Legal Aid of Western Missouri, the organization is also addressing abandoned properties and supporting affordable housing and neighborhood stability.

With roots in Ivanhoe and a background in journalism and executive leadership, Henry brings together storytelling, organizing, partnership and policy. Her work reflects a simple idea: strong neighborhoods aren’t built for people. They’re built with them.

Leadership in action

The Big Futures program grew from Lawrence’s conviction that high school graduation should not mark the end of support. The initiative keeps mentoring relationships intact while connecting young people with career exploration, internships, professional networks and postsecondary planning. By bringing together more than 60 community organizations, the program turns relationships into pathways toward long-term economic mobility.

My strategy is always to solve today’s crisis and build something that lasts.

— Alana Henry
Executive DIrector & CEO, Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

What nominators shared

“Alana Henry has demonstrated transformational leadership rooted in service, stability, and long-term neighborhood empowerment. Perhaps most importantly, Alana has helped cultivate a renewed sense of pride, dignity, and belonging within Ivanhoe.”

About Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council is a community-based organization serving Kansas City’s Ivanhoe neighborhood through programs and partnerships spanning food access and urban agriculture, housing, youth and senior services, financial assistance and neighborhood engagement. Its work brings residents and partners together to strengthen quality of life, opportunity and community connection.

Micheal Lawrence

CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City

Expanding possibility through relationships

Micheal Lawrence has spent more than three decades demonstrating what can happen when a young person has someone firmly in their corner.

His career with Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City began in 1992 as a case manager working directly with children, families and volunteers. Today, Lawrence leads an organization that has become one of the highest-performing agencies in the national Big Brothers Big Sisters network. During his tenure as CEO, the number of youth served annually has grown by 80%, with increased annual revenue and assets to support its work for the future.

Lawrence has also broadened what mentoring can make possible, extending support beyond high school into career exploration, internships, workforce development and postsecondary planning. Investments in trauma-informed care, family engagement and youth voice respond to the fuller realities of young people’s lives.

His entrepreneurial approach has helped strengthen the organization, creating new models for corporate partnership, earned revenue and long-term sustainability that have drawn attention across the national network.

Through it all, Lawrence’s philosophy remains fundamentally human: opportunity grows through relationships, and strong relationships can change the trajectory of a life.

Leadership in action

The Big Futures program grew from Lawrence’s conviction that high school graduation should not mark the end of support. The initiative keeps mentoring relationships intact while connecting young people with career exploration, internships, professional networks and postsecondary planning. By bringing together more than 60 community organizations, the program turns relationships into pathways toward long-term economic mobility.

I believe economic mobility requires more than resources. It requires relationships…. Leadership is not about protecting the status quo. It is about seeing what is possible next and having the courage to pursue it.

— Micheal Lawrence
CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City

What nominators shared

“Micheal Lawrence’s executive leadership legacy is defined by entrepreneurial vision, disciplined organizational growth, and an unwavering commitment to mission integrity.”

About Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City

Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City (BBBSKC) creates and supports mentoring relationships that help young people realize their potential. Its work connects youth and families with caring adults, community partners, career experiences and additional supports designed to create opportunity from childhood into adulthood.

Tysie McDowell

Co-founder & Superintendent, Crossroads Charter Schools

Building a city of opportunity through education

For Tysie McDowell, a school is both a place of learning and a bridge to the larger community.

McDowell co-founded Crossroads Charter Schools in 2012 with a vision for high-quality public education in Kansas City’s urban core. What began as one school serving fewer than 200 students has grown into three tuition-free public charter schools serving more than 1,100 students and families. Along the way, Crossroads has earned statewide recognition for academic performance, Accreditation with Distinction and a 10-year charter renewal.

McDowell helped make the city itself part of the Crossroads learning experience. Students connect with libraries, arts organizations, colleges, employers and community institutions, while real-world learning provides internships, entrepreneurial experiences, industry credentials and other pathways into life after graduation.

Her collaborative vision extends across Kansas City’s education system. McDowell has worked alongside district, charter, higher education and community leaders on literacy, educator development and shared learning. She also helped bring district and charter leaders together in support of Kansas City’s historic $474 million public-school bond initiative.

Underlying it all is McDowell’s conviction that institutional boundaries should never determine a child’s opportunity.

Leadership in action

McDowell spent two years working with five area superintendents and community partners through SchoolSmartKC’s Literacy for All Task Force to develop a citywide effort focused on third-grade reading. The initiative now serves more than 2,400 students in 11 schools, with a longer-term goal of reaching 8,800 K–3 students across Kansas City.

The strongest legacy a leader can leave is not a single achievement but an organization, a leadership pipeline, and a generation of educators equipped to continue creating opportunities for children and families long after the founder is gone.

— Tysie McDowell
Co-founder & Superintendent, Crossroads Charter Schools

What nominators shared

“Tysie McDowell did not just launch a school. She helped build a lasting public institution in the heart of downtown Kansas City.”

About Crossroads Charter Schools

Crossroads Charter Schools is a tuition-free public charter school network serving more than 1,100 students and families in Kansas City. Its three schools connect rigorous academics with community partnerships and real-world learning designed to prepare students for college, careers and active participation in their community.

Kar Woo

Founder & Program Director, Artists Helping the Homeless

Connecting people to the possibilites around them

Through Artists Helping the Homeless (AHH), Woo has spent more than 15 years developing an approach that connects people experiencing homelessness with Kansas City’s broad network of health care, housing, recovery, employment and other community resources. Rather than duplicate existing services, AHH helps people navigate them by providing assistance that can make the difference between accessing an opportunity and missing it.

That approach began with relationships. After starting Sunday meals near his Kansas City art gallery, Woo listened to the people he met and began identifying practical ways to help them move toward their goals. Transportation became one of the first. The Be the Change program connected people with services across the region while helping reduce costly emergency-system use. Respite and transitional housing followed, providing stability, individualized support and time to pursue recovery, education, employment and permanent housing.

AHH’s approach reflects Woo’s distinctive perspective: start with the person, connect the assets already present in the community, and fill the gaps that help create a path toward a life that can thrive.

Leadership in action

Woo developed AHH’s respite housing model after recognizing the value of providing a stable bridge between services and longer-term housing. Residents receive housing, transportation, peer support and connections to community resources while working toward individually defined goals. About 90% of residents annually move to independent living, reunite with family or take the next step in their recovery, and versions of the respite model have since been replicated and adapted elsewhere.

Homelessness is a community challenge which requires a community response…. For the most part, these are not radical innovations, but logical steps which resulted from taking a different perspective and being willing to try something different.

— Kar Woo
Founder & Program Director, Artists Helping the Homeless

What nominators shared

“Woo’s true legacy rests with the literally thousands of people who have been touched by his help, compassion, and belief in them, who are paying it forward.”

About Artists Helping the Homeless

Artists Helping the Homeless (AHH) works across the Kansas City region to connect people experiencing homelessness with housing, health care, recovery, employment and other resources. Through transportation, residential services, peer support and collaboration with community partners, AHH helps individuals navigate existing systems and pursue their own paths toward stability and opportunity.

Heidi Wooten

President & CEO, Safehome

Creating more pathways to safety and independence

Heidi Wooten believes safety can open the door to something larger: the ability to heal, make choices and build a future with greater stability and independence.

As president and CEO of Safehome, Wooten has helped strengthen a comprehensive continuum of support built around the individual needs of domestic violence survivors. Emergency shelter, counseling, legal advocacy, housing assistance and other services work together to help survivors move toward the futures they choose.

Wooten has paired a survivor-centered approach with a commitment to making Safehome strong, accessible and prepared for the future. Under her leadership, the organization has invested significantly in capital improvements, expanded accessibility and telehealth, strengthened financial sustainability and developed new approaches to housing assistance.

Wooten views organizational strength, staff well-being, community partnership and survivor outcomes as interconnected. By investing in all four, she is helping Safehome create not just a place of refuge, but a foundation from which survivors can pursue safety, dignity and possibility.

Leadership in action

Grace Haven reflects Wooten’s approach to innovation: listen closely, identify a barrier and design around the realities of survivors’ lives. Recognizing that concern for a pet can affect a survivor’s ability to leave an abusive situation, Wooten helped mobilize the community to raise $1 million for an on-site pet shelter. Grace Haven allows families and their pets to remain connected while survivors access Safehome’s broader continuum of support.

Innovation is about removing barriers, empowering people, and creating better outcomes…. I am not afraid to challenge assumptions, question longstanding practices, or pursue unconventional solutions when they will better serve survivors.

— Heidi Wooten
President & CEO, Safehome

What nominators shared

“Heidi has created a model of leadership that not only improves outcomes today but strengthens the region’s capacity to respond to tomorrow’s challenges.”

About Safehome

Safehome supports survivors of domestic violence through a continuum of free services that includes emergency shelter, counseling, legal advocacy, housing assistance and other resources designed to advance safety, healing and long-term stability. Through community partnerships and accessible, survivor-centered services, Safehome works with individuals and families as they build the futures they choose.