[KANSAS CITY, MO]—Parson & Associates, an African-American-owned Public Relations firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, has moved into new offices in the Historic Lincoln Building at 18th & Vine, and recently hired additional personnel to service the company’s fast growing client list. The firm is MBE-certified by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and is a HUD Section 3 certified business enterprise.
“We are off to a record start for the first half of 2012,” said the firm’s CEO and President, Jason Parson. “We have successfully landed six new contracts in seven months with leading architectural, planning and engineering firms representing planning and capital improvement projects that total in excess of $60 million.”
On August 1, Mr. Lynn Johnson joined Parson & Associates as a Senior Project Manager to assist with workforce development and outreach to minority and women-owned firms in conjunction with Parson & Associates’ work on the East Campus development for the KCMO Police Department and the City of Kansas City, Missouri. This project includes the East Patrol Division Station and Crime Lab that will be built at 27th and Prospect.
Mr. Johnson is a successful entrepreneur who most recently served as the director of the Youth Development Center for the Don Bosco Centers, where he wrote the Don Bosco Centers Youth Development Plan in 2011. Previously he managed and administered the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (HPRP) program in accordance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, led recruitment campaigns and community outreach for the Wayne Miner Housing Development, and was Logistics Function Supervisor for JCPenney Logistics Center in Lenexa, Kansas, from 2002-2007. He received his BA in 1997 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Also on August 1, Mrs. Desta Watson joined the firm as Executive Assistant to the President. An entrepreneur since 2004, when she and her husband, Robert Watson, opened Divine Floral Designs, located at 2219 E. 12th Street, Mrs. Watson was previously employed by the City of Kansas City, Missouri. She worked as Executive Assistant to the Director of Parks & Recreation, and from 1999 to 2004 she provided marketing, special projects, and Parks Board support, until a promotion to Administrative Assistant 3 at the Health Department. A lifelong Kansas Citian, she graduated from Manual High School in 1975.
Parson & Associates LLC is a Kansas City, Missouri certified MBE and Section 3 firm with an extensive background providing public involvement, governmental affairs, communications and workforce development services on behalf of government, business and nonprofit organizations. The firm has worked with its municipal and national partners to achieve success in the development of green-collar job initiatives, youth career and life skills training, as well as major transportation, capital improvement, and water-quality projects.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES: Steff Hedenkamp, 816-506-4630, steff@parsonKC.com
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