Love Columbia says one in five Columbia residents live in poverty and that many others struggle to make ends meet and find livable wage jobs. The nonprofit organization says there is not enough affordable rental housing here, adding that few income-based public housing units have been built in the city in the past 45 years. The group also says increases in wages have not kept pace with the cost of rent. Love Columbia says they serve anyone locally who struggles to provide for their basic needs and who wants to help create a path forward. Love Columbia co-founder and executive director Jane Williams joined host Fred Parry in-studio for the hour this weekend on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable” She grew up in western Missouri’s Platte City and earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Mizzou in Columbia. She tells listeners that she loved Columbia so much that she never left. Years ago, she and Pamela Ingram would go door-to-door in the public housing around Columbia’s Douglass park area and pray with residents and children. Ms. Ingram, who founded Granny’s House, has passed away. Ms. Williams says Love Columbia’s three main buckets are financial coaching, housing coaching and career coaching. Love Columbia served more than three-thousand people in 2024. Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick is praising the work Love Columbia is doing to help residents facing homelessness. He and more than 100 others attended last fall’s groundbreaking ceremony for new transitional housing on East Ash, near College Avenue. Boone County awarded the project $1-million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars, while the city of Columbia awarded $600,000 in ARPA money to Love Columbia for transitional housing. Prost Builders is building the project. Commissioner Kendrick tells 939 the Eagle News what stood out to commissioners is that this project is focused on families and children. During the one-hour weekend interview with Fred, Ms. Williams also addressed child care issues in the city, along with inflation issues and increasing insurance costs and property taxes:

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