Myeisha Wright, Project Leader

Myeisha Wright's real estate career is driven by the important need for quality affordable housing and improving communities. She is a real estate sales professional in both residential and commercial. She is an entrepreneur, investor and sales professional in the Real Estate industry both domestically and internationally.

Myeisha has served in leadership roles relating to Property Management, Broker services and Real Estate Development. She is the managing Broker at The Real Estate House of Kansas City overseeing 15 agents. She also co-owns TREH KC Property Management Group while during the pandemic was able to disburse over $50,000 in rental assistance to help tenants avoid eviction. She received her Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP) in 2020. She served as President of the KC Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Management in 2021.  She was one of the first graduating class of the REAP KC program in 2017 slated to enhance diversity in commercial real estate and development.

Myeisha is originally from Kansas City, MO and is a fourth generation neighborhood resident of Key Coalition. The family home on 30th & Olive has been part of the family for 100 years. Myeisha is a wife and mother of two.

E.F. Chip Walsh, Development Advisor

As a Development Advisor to the LCKC leadership team, Chip provides insight and technical assistance on tax credit financing, senior debt structuring and general development activities, in addition to focusing on project management duties for LCKC projects.

Chip has over 20 years of real estate years experience, is a founding partner and the managing member of Sustainable Development Partners of Kansas City, an adaptive reuse CRE development company, and is the founder of Mercier Street CRE Consulting. Chip and his partners efforts with SDPKC has been highlighted locally by The Kansas City Business Journal which noted that one their primary goal is “fight blight and flight by rehabilitating and repurposing historic buildings to turn around declining Kansas City neighborhoods and business districts.” Chip oversaw the day-to-day redevelopment of the former Westport Junior High School project, a $30 million redevelopment that converted the 160,000 SF building to a coworking facility utilizing New Market and Historic Tax Credit financing. Currently, Chip is co-developing the $52 million mixed-use redevelopment of the former Westport High School project. Chip is a third-generation Kansas Citian and passionate supporter of the city, particularly its professional sports teams.

BA Political Science, University of Redlands (CA),

J.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Law

Law License: Missouri and Kansas

2018 Cornerstone Award, Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City

2017 Historic Preservation Award, Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits

Jeff Mendelsohn, Founder, LocalCode

As founder of LocalCode (the national nonprofit), Jeff is responsible for delivering on the mission of the organization, “to provide the tools, resources, mentorship, and financing necessary for authentic local leaders to become the leading developers in their communities. LocalCode helps these leaders take on  significant and impactful real estate projects, with an emphasis on mixed use, main street locations. Successful projects will have catalytic effects on the communities. Building wealth through local ownership will positively impact every aspect of wellbeing, from health, to education, to civic participation, to the ability to weather crises, and to invest in the future and pursue meaningful and higher paid work. Successful projects strengthen partnerships and interactions among community residents, and build local economic resiliency.  Jeff focuses on strategy, finance, governance and ownership structure, strategic partnerships, human resources, and investor relationships.

Jeff’s personal mission is to create institutions that bring out the best in human nature. He focuses on governance and ownership, integrating social justice and aligning incentives for the wellbeing of all humanity and the natural environment. 

Previously, he co-founded Green Valley Farm + Mill, a land stewardship project with an innovative ownership model, enabling farming families with limited assets to be equal partners and own their homes. From 1998 through 2010, Jeff founded and built New Leaf Paper into the leading environmentally responsible paper company in the United States. New Leaf created the market for 100% recycled papers and was awarded Best in the World for Environment by B Corporation.  Along with 15 other social enterprise leaders, Mendelsohn spent three days in the Anza Borrego desert with the B Corporation founders at the beginning of the movement, helping bring B Corporation into being. Mendelsohn signed the B Corporation Declaration of Interdependence and New Leaf Paper became a Founding B Corporation in 2007. 

BA Political Science, Cornell University

Universidad de Buenos Aires, Courses in Argentine History, Politics and Literature

Forbes Impact 30 Top Social Entrepreneur

2011 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute

Fast Company Social Enterprise Award

Bob Berkebile, Strategic  Advisor

With his extensive experience as an architect, developer, and leader in Kansas City, Bob provides critical insights, relationships, and feedback to the LCKC leadership team on all aspects of real estate development. Bob focuses on improving the quality of life in our society with the integrity and spirit of his work.

Bob is a founding principal of BNIM, one of Kansas City’s leading architecture firms, which received the 2011 AIA Firm Award. Bob brings more than four decades of experience to the architectural profession, and over ten years as a developer. He is the founding chairman of the American Institute of Architects’ National Committee on the Environment (AIA / COTE) and was also instrumental in the formation of the US Green Building Council and its LEED rating system. Bob is currently focused on the redevelopment of the Blue River watershed and surrounding neighborhoods to transform a collection of abandoned industrial, military, and other sites into a regenerative economy for the community and a national model for Opportunity Zone funding.

BA Architecture, University of Kansas

Registered Architect: AK, KS, MI, MO, MT, NC, SC & Canada

Fellow of the American Institute of Architects

Founding Chair, AIA National Committee on the Environment

Board Member Emeritus: US Green Building Council

Board Member Emeritus: The Nature Conservancy

Honorary degrees from University of Missouri and Chatham University

15th Annual Heinz Award

2014 Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainability