Angela M. Bennett is not your typical attorney. For one thing, her title is Regional Director, Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Region VII where she's in charge of 45 employees. For another, she was recently awarded the Missouri Bar Association President's award for meritorious service.

The President's award is granted annually to one or more lawyers who have contributed significantly during the past year through actually participating in the bar's work. This last year, she was chair of their Client Security fund. She was also chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Professionalism. She was the first African American Kansas Citian elected to the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar.

Bennett went to law school because "I wanted to help people." Before her move back to public work (stints at the Missouri Attorney General's office and the Army Corps of Engineers), she was an attorney with Lathrop Gage for six years. At the Department of Education since 1997, she can "help the public and institutions at the same time."

Bennett is former treasurer of the Jackson County Bar Association, and former officer of the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City. Her current community efforts focus on her role in University of Missouri system's Board of Curators, to which she was appointed by Governor Bob Holden. Some of her other positions include president of the UMKC Alumni Association's Governing Board, co-chair of the Gem Theatre board and board officer for the Mid-Continent Girls Scouts.

She is active in her church and a member of the Starlight Theatre board of directors and the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey Advisory Board. She has received many other awards, including the UMKC Alumni Achieve-ment award; "Woman of the Year" by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity- Beta Lambda chapter; "Woman of the Year" by the Centennial United Methodist church; UMKC Law Foundation Public Service award and the "Girl Scout Woman of Achievement" award by the Mid-Continent Council of Girl Scouts.

This Kansas City native says she just believes in "giving back."

When Chuck Gatson came to Community Builders of Kansas City in 1991, he was the sole employee. He's still in charge, but there are now 18 employees of this organization whose goal is to rebuild lives and save neighborhoods. As vice president/CEO, he says his biggest challenge remains "Convincing the conventional real estate lenders and developers that it's safe to make investments in east Kansas City. The perception is that because minorities live here, it's not safe. That's just not true."

Community Builders began as Midtown Community Development Corporation which was formed to assist the residents of Mt. Cleveland and Sheraton Estates in addressing blight and crime in their neighborhoods. From there, the organization expanded, building new homes, commercial space, and a child development center. They continued the vision for Blue Parkway Town Center and by 1999, H&R Block signed on as the first tenant, an employer who hires 400-500 people each season and is having few problems with either employees or the area.

Gatson grew up ten blocks south of his office, and the longest time he's been away from home was his stint at the University of Missouri where he earned a degree in political science. He was a senior program manager in housing for the city before coming to Community Builders. He says he' most proud of his daughter (a professor at Texas A&M) and of his business. He says he'd "love to be able to say I did it all myself, but it's a host of people. My success is not mine, it's the organization's."

Nonetheless, it was Gatson who was recently named a 2002 recipient of the James A. Johnson Community Fellows award. The award, given by the Fannie Mae Foundation, recognizes leading housing and community development professionals. It specifically mentioned his role in redeveloping the Mount Cleveland initiative, the $100 million urban revitalization project.

It's an example of "What can be done when we all work together," Gatson says.