KARA was convened in 2005 by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). However, the community has been involved in this struggle for over a decade. In the late 1990s the Armory was transferred from the state to the city in a state of complete disrepair. Since that time, community members have been working with the NWBCCC to site schools at the Armory as the last open space in a severely overcrowded district with little vacant land. During the Giuliani administration the NWBCCC mobilized hundreds of residents to oppose his redevelopment plans because they did not include schools space or living wage jobs.