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Greetings!
This is the July 23rd edition of a weekly report that is being shared with the LINC Commission.
Our board is deeply interested in our work and wanted to have more information that can be shared with others about the great things LINC is doing and helping accomplish.
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KCMSD: some Hands of Hope projects postponed to August 7
The Kansas City, Mo. School District (KCMSD) announced Wednesday that the "Hands of Hope" volunteer clean-up at 27 school sites has been re-scheduled to Saturday, August 7th, 8:30-4:30. The extra weeks will give maintenance personnel more time to prepare equipment and sites for the revitalization work and upgrades. On August 7 volunteers will restripe parking lots and paint curbs, rake lawns and clear fence rows, and, at some sites, paint rooms and hallways.
Three school sites, Lincoln, Southwest, and Banneker, were slated for an extra day of sprucing up and those sites are ready to receive volunteer attention this Saturday, July 24th. Work there will proceed as planned.
The extra week also gives churches leading the clean-up effort more time to enlist volunteers. Anyone interested in helping with the projects are encouraged to contact Irene von Collins at the Parent Resource Center by calling (816) 418-8615. |
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer completes year of service
Thomas Del Greco completed his year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working at LINC. His primary project at LINC was the building and promoting of the Kansas City Beehive- a free, easy-to-use website with information on local resources and life skills. The website is at www.kcbeehive.org
LINC was given the opportunity to develop the Kansas City Beehive when editorial control and management of the local site were transferred to LINC from One Economy, a national organization committed to using technology to support low-income communities. That occurred largely through the efforts of Donovan Mouton who works for One Economy here in Kansas City. The Beehive is a national website with general information to make your life easy; the KC Beehive is a local site with content relevant to Kansas City. During June of 2009, the KC Beehive received 777 views from 283 visitors. The average number of visitors per day was about 10. With Del Greco working hard to add articles and advertise the website, it took only one year for those numbers to reach 11,300 views from 4,862 visitors. The KC Beehive now averages over 200 visitors per day. The top content revolves around local resources such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Public Housing, how to get a GED, and Unemployment. With other local Beehives across the country, including much larger cities like New York and Chicago, the Kansas City Beehive remains by far the most visited. With Del Greco's year coming to a close, site maintenance, updates, and development will be continued by LINC staff. Links to KC Beehive content are featured on the home page of the newly redesigned LINC website. |
National Night Out Against Crime, Aug. 3 (Southeast)
Kansas City, Mo will observe the National Night Out Against Crime on Tuesday, August 3, from 6 to 9 pm in Parade Park at 18th & Vine. The city-wide event will include entertainment by youth groups, greetings by civic and police officials, and a parade of neighborhood groups. The annual observance highlights the importance of partnerships between police and neighborhoods in striving for safe communities.
The Kansas City Police Department has planned several special activities including the opportunity to visit with officers from the mounted police and motorcycle patrols, a roll-over car demonstration, and a visit by the police helicopter. There will be food and water and drawings for door prizes. The event is free and everyone is welcome. A poster promoting the event is available on our LINC website. |
Southeast Beneficiary Deed Workshop (July 14)
Southeast Caring Communities Neighborhood Resource Center in partnership with Legal Aid of Western Missouri provided free legal expertise to assist low-income and elderly residents in setting up beneficiaries for their homes.
The event was held to help prevent legal problems and possible neighborhood blight if something should happen to homeowners. Discussions were held with 17 community members. Legal Aid considered it the best workshop they have had to date.
Special thanks to Mrs. Evaline Taylor, SE Neighborhood Coalition chair; Gillian Ruddy, Legal Aid Attorney, for organizing the event; Mrs. Mary Kelly, SE Neighborhood Coalition; and members of the SE Neighborhood Coalition for promoting the event.
Video from the event is on the LINC website. |
Family Reading Night in Hickman Mills
This July LINC hosted three Family Reading Nights at Hickman Mills LINC Caring Communities programs. Reading Nights are designed to remind parents of the importance of reading with their children over the summer. Parents are also encouraged to make reading a part of their child's daily routine.
At each event there is a 20-minute presentation followed by open reading time where families can spend time reading books provided by LINC. The presentation covers many statistics that show how important it is for students to begin reading at a young age, focusing on the areas of poverty, health and wellness, income, and prison rates. Also presented are examples of how parents can foster a love of reading in their children and help their child improve their reading skills.
Each student received a free book provided by LINC. Donations of assorted children's books were also made by Target and Wal-Mart.. |
LINC cited as an example in new federal legislation on schools
US Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) introduced federal legislation encouraging a more comprehensive approach to education by building integrated, collaboration systems to support children by making schools the center of communities. Under the DIPLOMA Act (Developing Innovative Partnerships and Learning Opportunities that Motivate Achievement) states would received funds to:
- develop an overarching strategic plan to enhance education and other child/youth outcomes based on a comprehensive results framework
- provide training, technical assistance, and professional development
- administer competitive grants to local consortia, and holding them accountable for results
The legislation was developed and supported by a wide ranging number of groups including teachers, United Way with significant leadership and support from the Coalition for Community Schools.
The work of LINC in Kansas City and other similar community schools efforts across the country were cited by Martin Blank, director of the Coalition for Community Schools, as evidence of the effectiveness of the approach and a reason to support the federal legislation which was introduced July 15.
Blank said: "The Coalition and its partners recognize that there is an inextricable link between strong schools and strong communities." |
LINC Commission Meeting
This months' meeting is Monday, July 26, 4-6 p.m. at the Kauffman Foundation.
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Contact Information
Brent Schondelmeyer, Director of Communications
phone: (816) 410-8350
email: bschonde@kclinc.org
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