2024 Winners•
Mariya Goodbrake is the founder and director of Global FC, a nonprofit founded in 2014 that supports Kansas City’s immigrant and youth refugee youth community through sport, academic support, and mentorship. Originally from Afghanistan, Mariya’s family was displaced from their home and lived as refugees in Iran and India before securing their future in Canada through the United Nation’s resettlement program. She relocated to Kansas City in 2013, discovering and engaging the refugee population in the Historic Northeast community.
Her inspiration for Global FC came from her personal struggles as a young refugee youth as her family learned to adapt to a new host country. She was also motivated to support refugee youth during a trip to a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, where she saw a vibrant, multi-cultural youth community centered around a common interest—soccer. Soccer would be a vehicle for engagement and community impact. Now, more than a decade later, Global FC is one of the region’s most diverse organizations, serving refugee and immigrant youth from more than 29 countries from around the world.
Mariya has extensive experience in youth and sports development, diaspora communities, inter-faith dialogue, religious freedom, refugee resettlement, and intercultural training. She is also an active public speaker, human rights defender, intercultural trainer and researcher. Her work has received national and international awards, including the 2019 United Nations World Citizen of the Year for KC presented by Mayor Quinton Lucas.
Starzette Palmer
2024 Winner
Our Spot KC
LinkedIn
Star Palmer is the founder and executive director of Our Spot KC, a nonprofit founded in 2016 that provides housing, rental assistance and other support services to the LGBTQ+ community in the Kansas City area to create community, share experiences and find solace and support. A Kansas City, Missouri native, Star experienced homelessness at a young age after coming out as lesbian and had first-hand experience having fewer services and housing opportunities as an LGBTQ+ individual. She created Our Spot KC as a response to the lack of dedicated and safe services and to begin to create a community that supports those who need it the most.
Our Spot KC serves the LGBTQ+ community through its flagship program, Lion House, providing transitional housing and rapid rehousing for LGBTQ+ youth, adults and families facing homelessness in the KC metro. In addition to Lion House, Our Spot KC publishes a quarterly magazine, provides training and technical assistance to businesses, nonprofits and municipalities to enhance their LGBTQ services, and a mobile LGBTQ+ small business incubator. One of fewer than five programs like it in the country, Our Spot KC has provided over 5,686 meals and 2,304 hours of life skills workshops to Kansas City LGBTQ+ individuals.
Star is also the president of the Kansas City Pride Community Alliance, the organization that runs KC PrideFest and Parade. She has been active in the community for more than a decade, creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals. She is a member of Alpha Psi Kappa Fraternity, Incorporated.
