Press Room

Press Releases

The Grooming Project is a 501c3 organization in Kansas City, MO that helps struggling parents find meaningful, living-wage employment in the trade in pet grooming. Since 2016, we have helped 42 families create a new path to self-sufficiency.

The Grooming Project Awarded $120,000 from the Kauffman Foundation

August 1, 2019

The Grooming Project was recently selected as one of 19 recipients of the Kauffman Foundation’s . Focused on leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs with multiple barriers to business ownership, the Inclusion Open RFP received 750 applications… read more

Grand Opening of The Salon – A Grooming Project in Lee’s Summit

April 29, 2019

Empowering the Parent to Empower the Child (EPEC, Inc.) announced the grand opening of its first expansion project, The Salon – A Grooming Project, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4 at 1650 SE Blue Parkway in Lee’s Summit. A ribbon-cutting will take place at 10 a.m. … read more

In the News

Dog grooming project gave homeless woman a job – and a new life

September 20, 2016

The moment really hit 40-year-old Danielle Simpson on the dance floor as she pranced about doing disco moves in a donated red, spaghetti-strap gown. “I can’t believe I’m here,” she said. “A lot happened this year, so much. I’m nervous about what comes next. But I feel like now I’m ready. I’m not going back to that old life.” It was the night before her graduation from a six-month course to teach women how to groom dogs — and begin to turn their lives around… read more

Natasha Kirsch wants to break the cycle of unemployment and poverty — with clippers

July 15, 2016

Tanisha Davis, her face mostly hidden under a red baseball cap, grips a brush and strokes the coat of a Siberian husky named Smokey. White fur glides to the floor. Littermate Homie waits his turn in a crate in the next room. Across the room, Danielle Simpson works on another dog. The two women would like to open their own business together, prettying animals like Smokey and Homie — using skills they’ve learned over the past six months, in the Grooming Project…read more