KC Tenants, the citywide tenant union that has helped shape housing policy and elect local leaders, announced Saturday that longtime organizer Jenay Manley will become the group’s new director. She succeeds Tara Raghuveer, who helped found the organization in 2019 and has led it since its early days.
KC Tenants announced the leadership transition during an event marking the organization’s seventh anniversary. According to the organization, the celebration included remarks from KC Tenants board members and Kansas City Councilman Johnathan Duncan, along with a performance by the Salvation Choir. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, several members of the City Council and other civic leaders also attended.
For many observers, the moment reflected how far the organization has come in a relatively short time.
From Small Meeting to Major Civic Influence
KC Tenants was founded by Tiana Caldwell, Diane Charity, Brandy Granados and Tara Raghuveer. The group’s first meeting, held Feb. 17, 2019, drew just 12 people. Three weeks later, organizers gathered on the steps of City Hall in sub-zero temperatures to publicly launch the union and unveil a People’s Housing Platform.
Since then, KC Tenants has become a major presence in Kansas City housing debates and policy fights.
The organization helped write and win several housing protections now embedded in city law, including:
- Kansas City Tenants Bill of Rights (2019)
- Right to Counsel for tenants facing eviction (2021)
- Source of Income Discrimination Ban (2024), preventing landlords from rejecting tenants based on housing vouchers
- Creation of a City Office of Language Access (2024)
KC Tenants has also helped push broader housing initiatives, including helping secure a $50 million bond for deeply affordable housing and $10.5 million for the city’s Housing Trust Fund in 2022. Organizers also mobilized opposition that helped defeat a proposed $2 billion downtown stadium tax in 2024.
During the pandemic, the union organized direct actions aimed at preventing thousands of evictions. Tenants affiliated with the organization have also organized building-level campaigns to address unsafe conditions, negotiate with landlords and in some cases launch rent strikes.
According to KC Tenants, those efforts have resulted in what organizers describe as the longest and largest rent strikes in regional history, leading to negotiated agreements that reduced or froze rents and erased some tenant debts.
Today, the organization says its membership includes more than 10,000 households across Kansas City and eastern Jackson County, making it one of the largest tenant-organizing groups in the country.
Raghuveer Helped Build a National Movement
Much of that growth occurred under Raghuveer’s leadership.
Raghuveer helped found KC Tenants after several years researching eviction patterns in the Kansas City area beginning in 2013. Her work helped frame housing instability as a systemic issue affecting thousands of local residents.
Over time, she became a national voice on tenant rights and housing policy.
She also helped launch KC Tenants Power, a sibling political organization created in 2022 that can endorse and support candidates for office. The group quickly demonstrated its influence, helping elect four Kansas City City Council members in 2023 — including Councilman Johnathan Duncan, a member of the tenant union.
Raghuveer will continue organizing nationally as the director of the Tenant Union Federation, a coalition of tenant unions across the country aimed at expanding tenant organizing and political influence.
“Organizing is a practice of faith. We have to believe in what we can’t yet see,” Raghuveer said. “I’ve never believed in something more than I believe in the power we’ve built together at KC Tenants, and the power that’s yet to come.”
She said the organization is well positioned for the future under Manley’s leadership.
“There is no person better positioned to lead KC Tenants than Jenay Manley, who is a visionary, an experienced organizer and a brilliant strategist,” Raghuveer said.
A Leader Who Rose From the Ranks
Manley’s path to leadership reflects the grassroots nature of the organization itself.
She joined KC Tenants in 2019 while working overnight shifts at QuikTrip and struggling to keep up with rent. Within months, she became a key organizer in the campaign that led to the Tenants Bill of Rights.
She later served as the group’s City Hall liaison and a Black Organizing Fellow, working on city budget issues and tenant protections during the pandemic.
In 2023, Manley ran for the 2nd District At-Large seat on the Kansas City City Council, advancing to the general election and earning nearly 20,000 votes.
For the past several years she has served as KC Tenants’ organizing director, helping coordinate tenant campaigns across the city. Among her efforts was helping tenants at Quality Hill Towers organize the region’s largest tenant union and supporting a major rent strike there in 2024.
Supporters say Manley’s leadership has been visible inside the organization for years.
“Having watched Jenay’s work ethic over time, I can scarcely think of someone more qualified for leadership,” said Robert Reital in a congratulatory message shared after the announcement.
Robert Richardson, another supporter, said Manley has long been central to the organization’s work.
“Seen you going hard from the very beginning, Jenay,” Richardson wrote. “We know you’ve always been the heart of this fight.”
Manley, who is the mother of twins Lilly and Avery, said the union’s strength comes from the people most affected by housing issues.
“Our union is all of us,” Manley said. “It has never been and will never be one person’s vision. We make decisions and take action together. Our power is in our collective.”
Looking Ahead
Even as leadership changes, organizers say KC Tenants’ mission remains the same — building tenant power and shaping housing policy.
The organization is now part of the Tenant Union Federation, which aims to coordinate tenant organizing nationally and push for policies such as rent protections tied to federal housing financing.
Locally, KC Tenants continues its work organizing renters, advocating for housing policy changes and supporting tenants in their buildings and neighborhoods.
Seven years after its first small meeting, the organization that began with a handful of renters has grown into one of Kansas City’s most visible grassroots advocacy groups — powered not by large financial resources, but by the residents most affected by housing issues themselves.
