Tag: Nika Cotton

Nika Cotton makes a drink at Soulcentricitea, which she opened on Troost Ave. last July. Cotton applied for a grant from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, but did not receive any money. Photo by Zach Bauman/The Beacon

Beacon analysis: Restaurant relief funds flowed to whiter, more affluent areas of Kansas City

By Tommy Felts / August 18, 2021

Editor’s note: The following story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon, a nonprofit, public-service journalism newsroom serving Kansas and Missouri. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for the free Kansas City Beacon email newsletter. Local businesses received a total of $53 million from the fund, but few of those dollars flowed…

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Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri, grant recipients

‘A critical lifeline’: EDCKC grants $80K to Black-led non-profits impacted by COVID-19

By Tommy Felts / February 27, 2021

Relief grants from a leading economic development initiative are as much about building momentum as surviving the pandemic, said Nika Cotton, emphasizing Troost as a good place to start. Cotton, owner of the Soulcentricitea tea shop at 30th Street and Troost Avenue, is using a $5,000 award from the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City,…

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Soulcentricitea on Troost

Tea shop on Troost finds its flavor at the intersection of herbal serenity, cultural activism

By Tommy Felts / July 15, 2020

Kansas City’s air is thick with revolution and restoration, contemplated Nika Cotton.  “In the social and cultural climate, it’s really a time that people are rising up. The systems are changing. We’re talking about the abolition of police departments, the abolition of the industrial prison system — really exciting things,” Cotton said amid a flurry of…

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