ClipDart founder Kyle Parker is spearheading the fight against hair-care inequity in Phoenix and beyond.
ClipDart founder Kyle Parker believes hair care is health care – a key part of a person’s mental wellness, cultural identity and self-confidence.
Yet, millions of Americans experience hair-care inequity due to cost and transportation barriers, disabilities or discrimination. It’s a systemic stumbling block Phoenix’s Parker has set out to eliminate – one culturally competent haircut at a time.
Parker first experienced lack of access to racially affirming hair care when he moved to Iowa to study biology and play basketball at Grinnell College – a small liberal arts school where less than 5 percent of students are Black. He struggled to find a barber that specialized in African American hair, a stark contrast to the Chicago neighborhood where he grew up. “In places like South Side Chicago, barbershops and salons are cultural institutions,” he says. “It’s much more than a place where you go get your hair cut. It’s a safe haven, too.”
The inability to access inclusive hair care negatively affected Parker’s mental health. “If there’s a time in your life you want to look your best, it’s during your college years,” he says. “I never got that opportunity.”
This was the impetus for ClipDart, the pioneering social-impact nonprofit he founded in Phoenix in 2020. ClipDart partners with organizations to provide free on-site haircuts to underserved communities regardless of race, ethnicity or economic status, including seniors, low-income families and those experiencing homelessness. Parker initially envisioned an on-demand app like Uber or DoorDash, where users could request a barber instead of a driver or a meal.
He began working on developing the app in 2016, when he was a junior in college. After graduating and playing professional club basketball in Germany, Parker relocated to Phoenix and prepared to launch the app in March 2020 – the same week COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. He pivoted, instead reaching out to homeless shelters, detention centers and safe houses to propose ClipDart pop-ups.
“We decided to move to a business-to-business model, partner with businesses [so] they can take [care of] the cost of our services,” Parker says, adding that this framework also combats hair-care equity’s most critical hurdles. “We come to you on-site, so you don’t have to worry about the travel. It’s free, so you don’t have to worry about the cost. And our hair care is culturally competent, so you don’t have to worry ever about being discriminated against.”
ClipDart now partners with dozens of local organizations, including Central Arizona Shelter Services, Chicanos Por La Causa, Arizona State University and Banner Health. In 2023, the nonprofit received a $100,000 grant from the Maricopa County Department of Public Health to facilitate monthly events at 15 senior centers across the Valley. It is the first hair-care organization in Arizona to be awarded county funding.
“For us to get that grant showed people that hair care is a part of health care… that they think we’re as important as showers, as food, as clothes,” Parker says. The grant also allowed ClipDart to leverage other public health departments and partner with K-12 schools, colleges, senior centers, homeless shelters, correctional facilities and other social service organizations across the country. ClipDart now has a network of more than 400 hair professionals who have administered 40,000 haircuts through 200-plus institution partners in 31 states.
Parker’s next objective: demonstrating to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that hair care deserves to be considered an official health-related benefit, like SilverSneakers, a no-cost fitness program available to Medicare-eligible seniors.
“Our whole goal, not only is it to improve mental wellness through culturally competent hair care, but to eliminate hair-care inequity, and we really believe we can do that.”
– Madison Rutherford
New: Harkins Theatres 2026 Loyalty Cup
A new year brings new dreams, new goals and, for Valley moviegoers, a new loyalty cup from Harkins Theatres. The Arizona institution marks the start of each year with a new design for its reusable cup ($7.75 to purchase; $3 soft drink refills thereafter). “This year’s design celebrates the magic of the movies as a workshop of imagination, where cinematic worlds and theater treats come together,” per a press release. Harkins celebrated 90 years in 2023 and recently opened the Harkins BackLot entertainment center at Norterra. harkins.com
– Leah LeMoine
Tech Corner: Ride Around Arcadia
Disillusioned by the static nature of podcast interviews in recording studios, Arcadia real estate pro Charles Sidi had a very Arcadia idea: bicycles. In his video podcast Ride Around Arcadia, Sidi and his guests hop on stationary bikes and take a virtual spin around the East Phoenix neighborhood. With a green screen behind them, they pedal away while discussing local businesses. Valley videography company Pixelist Media edits the conversation to include actual footage of a ride through the area. Watch full episodes at youtube.com/@lovearcadialiving and follow on Instagram @ride_around_arcadia.
– Leah LeMoine
