Coalition History

In May 2010 a group of Access To Recovery Support Providers and Mental Health/Substance Abuse Treatment Centers came together and agreed to form our volunteer coalition to promote and enhance Recovery Oriented Systems of Care system, (ROSC) for persons and their families in the Kansas City area, whose lives are impacted by alcohol and substance abuse disorders. The coalition subsequently officially organized in 2011 calling itself the Kansas City Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery Support Coalition, (KC-SATRSC). In 2018, the organization was renamed “Kansas City Recovery Coalition” and received 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service.

The coalition originated out of a determination by Department of Mental Health for regions in Missouri receiving Access To Recovery, (ATR) funding via a SAMHSA grant to organize collaborations to be able to participate in the (ATR) funding in round three of the grant, 2010 to 2014. Over twenty community organizations came together to form the KCSATRSC now known as (KCRC). These entities include, but are not limited to; Faith-Based Recovery support providers; local Treatment Centers; Truman Medical Center substance treatment program; Missouri Probation and Parole; local churches; Two Bible Colleges and Theological Seminaries; Kansas City Community Correction Center; Kansas City Police Department; Kansas City Veteran’s Outreach Center and others. The region was subsequently successful in receiving an entry into ATR round three.

One year into the new round of funding the Kansas City Recovery Coalition received an invitation from SAMHSA/CSAT to participate in a two and one half-day workshop in Washington DC to study techniques on how to build capacity for neighborhood partnerships for recovery support services. Missouri was one of only ten states extended this invitation at that time by SAMHSA and KCRC was the only coalition to represent Missouri in this initiative. SAMHSA subsequently sponsored nine members of KCRC to the capacity building conference.

During the capacity building workshop in Washington, the KC-SATRSC leadership established five basic goals for the coalition. They were and continue to be the following:

GOAL 1: To raise community awareness of substance abuse, prevention, mental health issues, and recovery.

GOAL 2: Advocate for the recovery-oriented systems of care to benefit Kansas City and its surrounding communities.

GOAL 3: To create and implement city-wide recovery events on an ongoing basis that promotes the purpose and objectives of the coalition.

GOAL 4: Strengthen coalition agencies’ individual and collective capacity within the Kansas City recovery-oriented systems of care.

GOAL 5: increase professional training and career development opportunities for members of the coalition.

The concept for the Unsung Heroes Luncheon and Awards actually originated from the coalition’s SAMHSA driven goals established in at the training in DC.

Here to date, the Kansas City Recovery coalition has been very successful sustaining an effective collaboration of organizations that serve men and women suffering from alcohol and substance abuse disorders in Kansas City and surrounding areas.

The Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) approach utilizes a person-centered model to ensure consumer choice and involvement in the achievement of important steps in their personal recovery process. This approach embraced by the coalition empowers treatment and recovery support providers to partner with other organizations in their communities to help people achieve and sustain recovery.

Today the Kansas City Recovery coalition is in association with approximately forty local service organizations and multiple agencies throughout the state. As a coalition, we proudly represent Kansas City, Missouri as a recognized system of care for people seeking to enter into or sustain recovery.