KJ Street Consulting

Helping communities build better futures

As parents of three, Kim and Jason Street know full well the value of having safe, fun places for kids to play. For more than a decade, they’ve built a business helping schools and communities fundraise to build playgrounds and other large infrastructure projects which can often run in the six- to seven-figure range.

“We have a real love for community, so when someone needs a helping hand, we’re big on that,” says Kim.

The Streets came by their line of work through a series of difficult family circumstances. When their oldest son, Connor, suffered a sudden and unexpected brain injury and was hospitalized, Kim left her job as a professional fundraiser to focus on her family.

“I went into retirement because we weren’t sure what was going to happen. We went from the Stollery to the Glenrose, and then through lots of therapy,” she explains. But as Connor moved out of the hospital and came back home, Kim and Jason realized there was a lot of work to be done to adapt to their new normal.

“I wanted him to be the same as he was before the accident. I couldn’t really wrap my head around it. I couldn’t understand why things were so different, but his brain was really like pieces of puzzles he had to put back together. He had to relearn all those skills.”

When Connor was ready to go on to attend Elmwood Elementary School, Kim continued to worry about her son’s progress. Eventually, her continued concern gained the attention of staff.

“They said, ‘We need to give you a hobby,’ and I said, I don’t know how to do anything but raise money. That’s all I know how to do,” she explains. As luck would have it, that skill was in high demand, as the school was fundraising to build a new playground. After holding more than a hundred bake sales, the school had raised less than $50,000.

They needed more than a million.

“So I said, all right, just give me a purpose and let’s go,” laughs Kim.

Over the next seven months, with help from the Streets, the school went on to raise over $1.1 million dollars. The project was the start of what would eventually become KJ Street Consulting, a social enterprise founded by Kim and Jason, which would help communities secure grants and funding to build new playgrounds.

Over the years, KJ Street Consulting has gone on to help schools across Alberta, including in larger school districts like Edmonton Catholic, as well as smaller communities like Banff and Manning. They’ve also expanded into British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Yukon, with plans for further growth in the works.

But just as that growth into other jurisdictions was beginning, the pandemic hit.

“COVID kind of threw everything upside down,” explains Kim.”Because in my mind, I thought, ‘This will be over next month, next month, next month,’ and then it lasted a really long time.”

Thankfully, the company was able to turn to the Social Enterprise Fund to get through those difficult few months. SEF provided financing to cover operating capital during the most difficult parts of the pandemic. And as life returned to normal, KJ Street Consulting was able to focus on what they do best: bringing smiles to kids and communities.

“We’re all about community. Jason and I don’t want to ever steer away from that,” says Kim.

“Yes, we’re a small business and we have to make money, but we’re invested in the communities we work in and we want to keep that as the main focus for us, front and centre.”