The Weekly Wrap: Kansas City Tenants Launch Rent Strike

Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice.

Have news, resources or events that should be included in a future edition of this newsletter? Let us know. We’re reachable at wrapped@nextcity.org.

200 Tenants in Kansas City, Missouri, Go On Rent Strikes

Nearly 200 tenants at Quality Hill Towers and Independence Towers in Kansas City, Missouri, have launched a rent strike demanding better upkeep, repairs and collectively bargained leases. They’re also using the strike to demand the Biden administration set a 3% rent cap on buildings with federally-backed loans, the Kansas City Beacon reports. The Tenant Union Federation, which helped organize the strike, also released a national policy agenda “outlining what a pro-tenant administration and Congress can do to usher in a new era of tenants rights and housing stability,” including enacting national rent control and ending the criminalization of homelessness.

Nature Is Getting Worse at Absorbing Carbon

The Guardian reports on a new study showing that the planet’s natural carbon sinks — soil, oceans and forests, for example — have been diminished in the wake of rising temperatures. According to the study, in 2023, nature showed no net carbon absorption. Zooplankton, for instance, are being exposed to more sunlight which keeps them submerged in the ocean for longer, dramatically decreasing the amount of algae on the ocean’s surface that they eat and lowering the excretion of carbon-infused waste that ends up on the ocean’s floor. The shift may be temporary and could recede if drought and wildfires were to die down. “Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end,” one climate researcher told The Guardian.

Harris Plan Silent on Trans People

At The Nation, Charlie Markbreiter writes that the Harris campaign’s policy platform does not mention transgender people and that the campaign has not voiced concern about anti-trans rhetoric among Democratic politicians. The candidate has also not presented a plan to address threats to trans healthcare that will reach the Supreme Court. Because Harris does not have a plan to expand federal coverage of trans healthcare, Markbreiter argues, medical transition may only be accessible to upper-income elites.

Shaaban Al-Dalou, Arms Embargo and Settling Gaza

Dropsite News interviewed the family of Shaaban Al-Dalou, a 19-year-old who was burned to death after an Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa Hospital, which was sheltering Palestinians seeking shelter. A video of Al-Dalou on fire while hooked up to a catheter after surviving a separate Israeli airstrike on a mosque was viewed by millions of people earlier this week. On Sunday, U.S. officials issued Israel a warning that it would implement an arms embargo if the “humanitarian crisis” in North Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are being deliberately starved, shot and bombed by Israeli troops, is not relieved in 30 days. In an August meeting, however, a Biden aide conceded that the U.S. would never restrict arms to Israel. And as the ethnic cleansing of Gaza continues, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party issued an invitation to an event called “Preparing to Settle Gaza,” Haaretz reports.

USDA Offers Funds to Urban Farms

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $9 million in funding for urban agriculture in 10 cities. The funding will go to “education, outreach and technical assistance,” according to a press release. The cities include Denver, Boston, Jackson, Mississippi, and Kansas City, Missouri. The funds, which remain a tiny percentage of the USDA’s $230 billion budget, are made possible through American Rescue Plan funds.

Curated by Deonna Anderson

MORE NEWS

• Native healing practices will soon be covered by Medicaid in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Oregon. Axios

• Here’s how local governments can help improve the eviction data gap. Smart Cities Dive

• In Oregon, Regional Long-Term Rent Assistance is helping to combat homelessness. Portland Mercury

• A historically Black community in Baltimore is grappling with lasting impacts after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. AP

OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES

• The UCLA Activist-in-Residence program, which seeks to strengthen the infrastructure of social transformation by supporting local movement leaders, community organizers, and artists with university resources, is accepting applications. The deadline is Oct. 27. Learn more and apply here.

• The National Black Food & Justice Alliance is accepting applications for its Mutual Aid, Resource and Capacity Fund, which aims to strengthen operations, nurture community wellness, and build sustainable, cooperative food systems in Black communities across the U.S. Learn more and apply by Nov. 15 here.

• Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge competition calls on municipalities with at least 100,000 residents to collaborate with residents and entrepreneurs to reimagine the core municipal services their communities rely on daily. The 25 cities with the most inventive ideas will each be awarded $1 million and operational assistance to bring their proposals to life. The deadline is Dec. 20. Learn more and apply here.

EVENTS

• Oct. 22 at 4  p.m. Eastern: The Mellon Foundation is hosting a conversation about creativity and cultures in the Borderlands. Register here.

• Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. Eastern: In honor of the 20th anniversary of Dr. Mindy Fullilove’s book Root Shock, Next City is hosting a webinar where speakers will reckon with the past and reimagine how to support communities facing displacement today. Register here.

• Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. Eastern: Next City is hosting a webinar about preserving LGBTQ spaces and stories in cities across the globe. Register here to be part of a crucial conversation about ensuring the survival and thriving of LGBTQ spaces.