Team
Dr. Karen E. Curls
President2
Dr. Karen E. Curls leads Curls Jude Joseph’s work in site acquisition, planning and design, construction management, HUD Section 39 consulting and compliance monitoring, for commercial and residential projects.
As Director of Real Estate at the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City (CDC-KC), she ran new construction and rehabilitation in the neighborhoods around Linwood Boulevard. She brought Walgreens and AutoZone to the Linwood Shopping Center district, anchoring its recovery. For CDC-KC she also managed HUD Section 202 housing for older residents, from site selection and land assemblage through construction and work with the community.
Earlier, Dr. Curls managed single-family housing developments and a multi-family housing project in South Los Angeles, where she worked with HUD and helped resolve disputes in the community.
Consultants
Simone Curls
Consultant4
Simone Curls, a Kansas City native, ran a consulting firm in Los Angeles for twelve years before becoming Executive Director of the Prospect Business Association (PBA) in February 2019. She turned PBA from a volunteer group into a staffed organization with seven business programs, and during the COVID-19 pandemic helped local businesses secure more than $2 million in relief. In 2021 she joined Missouri’s Show Me Strong Recovery Task Force; in 2023 she received awards from COMTO Kansas City and LISC Kansas City. She holds degrees from Xavier University of Louisiana and Southern University.
Erica Brice
Consultant4
Erica Brice works in commercial real estate development: lending, equity investment, federal and state tax credits, tax increment financing, and public/private partnerships, with a focus on urban communities. As a commercial real estate lender she co-managed, underwrote and closed more than $350 million of debt for retail, office, hotel, industrial and multi-family projects across the country, including more than $100 million tied to tax increment financing, transportation development districts, sales tax revenue bonds, and New Markets, historic and low-income housing tax credits.
Donald L. Maxwell
Consultant4
Donald L. Maxwell is principal of Maxwell Consultants and Associates, a holding company that manages and rehabilitates real estate, markets businesses and invests in small companies. From 1976 to 1998 he was President of the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City. In Kansas City he has worked on more than $200 million of development, including shopping centers, offices, industrial property, and single- and multi-family housing. His work covers general management, business planning, financial investment and real estate development.
Mike Hughes
Consultant4
Mike Hughes is a community advocate who works with us on community programs. He teaches in the Kansas City Transition program, mentoring young men who have been through the justice system, and he teaches in The Sanctuary Workshop.