V.
                          1U
 Brownfields  2005

  Grant Fact Sheet

       Negro Leagues

    Baseball Museum,

     Kansas  City,  MO


EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George
W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the
Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to
eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) was
selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant.  The
NLBM is located in the 18th and Vine district of
Kansas City, which is among the neediest areas in the
city. Kansas City  is in Jackson County, which has a
population of 659,723, of whom approximately 56,000
live in the 18th and Vine district. This target area,
located in a federally designated Enhanced Enterprise
Zone, has a population that is 84 percent minorities, a
7.2 percent unemployment rate, and a 20.7 percent
poverty rate. The cleanup site is the former Paseo
YMCA, which was built specifically to house black
  Cleanup Grant
  $165,047 for hazardous substances
  EPA has selected the Negro Leagues Baseball
  Museum for a brownfields cleanup grant.  Grant
  funds will be used to conduct community outreach
  activities and cleanup operations for the Paseo
  YMCA site. Previous assessments have noted the
  presence of asbestos-containing materials, aviary
  waste, and a drum of sludge at the site.
  Contacts
  For further information, including specific grant
  contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
  news and events, and publications and links, visit
  the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
  brownfields.

  EPA Region 7 Brownfields Team
  913-551-7646
  http://www.epa.gov/Region7/citizens/brownfields/
  index.htm

  Grant Recipient: Negro Leagues Baseball
  Museum, MO
  816-221-3013

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to change.
visitors to Kansas City and was the founding place of
the Negro Leagues in 1914.  The building, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, closed in 1970
and has fallen into disrepair. The NLBM is currently
purchasing the site and plans to redevelop it into the
Buck O'Neil Education and Research Center. Con-
struction and rehabilitation of the Center would double
the number of permanent NLBM employees and
generate hundreds of jobs. Redevelopment also will
eliminate potential health hazards, act as a catalyst for
development, and enhance the neighborhood and
surrounding communities.
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                        EPA 560-F-05-234
                        May 2005
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

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