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Greetings!

This is the weekly report to the LINC Commission for the week of March 30, 2012. Our board is deeply interested in our work and wanted to learn about - and share with others - the great things LINC is helping to accomplish.

In this issue:
LINC and Aging: A closer look at our work with seniors in Kansas City
Students plant apple trees, leave legacy at their school
LINC's innovative approach to welfare to work shared at national conference
SuEllen Fried honored among women leaders of the world
Northwest CDC celebrates a decade of partnerships
The Local Show highlights the UNI
Chess Tournament expected to draw 150 students from entire metro area

LINC and Aging: A closer look at our work with seniors in Kansas City

 

LINC's work with seniors in the Kansas City area was highlighted at the March LINC Commission Meeting.

 

A booklet produced for the meeting, "Mapping Our Community: A Look at Seniors," includes several maps illustrating demographic data from population to grandparents raising grandchildren, and more. LINC sees maps as important tools for fully understanding our communities.

 

Also produced was "LINC and Aging," a summary of LINC's current initiatives and partnerships working to improve the lives of seniors. LINC works with many local organizations to ensure seniors have access to medical, nutritional, and housing resources as well as meaningful volunteer opportunities and continuing education classes.

 

Gene Wilson of the Heartland EngAGEment Initiative and Marlene Nagel of the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) presented demographic issues confronting communities as the senior population grows. The two groups will work together along with the Center for Practical Bioethics to address five pillar initiatives for aging in community as established by KC 4 Aging in Community. The pillars are: support healthy lifestyles and health care; caregiving options; appropriate, affordable housing; mobility options that support independent living; and social and civic engagement.

 

All three items - "A Look at Seniors," "LINC and Aging," and the presentation slides - are available on the LINC website, www.kclinc.org

Students plant apple trees, leave legacy at their school

 

Students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary planted 10 apple trees on the school grounds this week as part of a multi-phase plan to create an outdoor classroom.

 

In a planting and groundbreaking event held Wednesday, students were taught how to plant and care for their new trees. The school hopes students will see the trees as their legacy to the community, which will boost pride and investment in their neighborhood.

 

LINC and King Elementary staff plan to turn the space around the orchard into an outdoor classroom where students can learn about the life cycle of plants in a hands-on environment.

 

A vegetable garden will also be planted this spring, tended through the summer and harvested in the fall. Additional development includes a rain garden and butterfly garden.

 

A video of the event is available on the LINC website.

 

The apple trees were donated by the University of Missouri - Jackson County Extension.

 

Steve Bradford is the LINC Site Coordinator at King Caring Communities. Philomina Harshaw is the Principal.

LINC's innovative approach to welfare to work shared at national conference

 

LINC's innovative approach to welfare to work was nationally highlighted during an "Innovations Institute" in Washington, DC, in mid-March.

 

LINC and nine other groups were invited by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families-Office of Family Assistance (OFA) to participate in a two-day conference that gave attendees the opportunity to share ideas with each other and learn from experts about ways to improve programs serving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants.

 

The Innovations Institute was the culmination of the OFA's Promising Pathways initiative providing technical assistance to ten groups throughout the country. The selected participants were identified as offering successful or promising approaches to serving families on TANF.

 

As part of the initiative, a coaching team from ICF International made multiple visits to Kansas City to work with LINC staff, volunteers and partners to develop ways to document and share evidence-based practice regarding the LINCWorks welfare case management initiative. The results will be shared nationally.

 

ICF coach Bill Brumfield will return to Kansas City to participate in a presentation on LINCWorks at the April 16 LINC Commission meeting.

 

Attending the Innovations Institute were LINC staff Tom Jakopchek, Brent Schondelmeyer and David Buchmann, and Missouri Family Support Division regional administrator Marge Randle.

SuEllen Fried honored among women leaders of the world

 

SuEllen Fried LINC Commissioner SuEllen Fried has been named as one of 100 Top Global Women by the Diplomatic Courier, an online and print global affairs magazine.

 

In the annual International Women's Day edition, Fried was featured among women leaders from around the world who have made an impact in their workplace or made positive changes in their neighborhoods, communities, and countries.

 

The website features an interview with Fried about her work with the BullySafeUSA which she founded, her dedication to preventing the abuse and maltreatment of children, the importance of International Women's Day, and a brief biography.

 

The full interview can be read online at www.diplomaticourier.com

 

The Diplomatic Courier connects the diplomatic and policy establishment to the next generation of leaders in diplomacy and foreign policy.

Northwest CDC celebrates a decade of partnerships

 

LINC was honored alongside nine other community organizations and businesses as a "Most Valued Partner" at the Northwest Communities Development Corporation's (NWCDC) 2012 Gala.

 

Recipients were recognized for their work within northwest Independence and for their help when NWCDC began over a decade ago.

 

LINC produced a video for the occasion which is available on the NWCDC website,
www.nwcdc-mo.org

The Local Show highlights the UNI

 

KCPT's The Local Show recently highlighted the new Urban Neighborhood Initiative (UNI) which will focus resources on improving an area of Kansas City located east of Troost Ave.

 

Several LINC Caring Communities sites are in or near the selected area including Lee A. Tolbert, Foreign Language Academy, Longfellow, Phillips, Attucks, and Wheatley schools and the city-supported LINC site Palestine Caring Communities.

 

The segment is available at vimeo.com/kclinc

Chess Tournament expected to draw 150 students from entire metro area

 

Ches Tournament 20120505 Over 150 players from all seven LINC partner and area school districts are expected to attend the LINC Chess Year-End Tournament on Saturday, May 5, at Hickman Mills Junior High School.

 

LINC continues to support development and expansion of chess as a way to learn to think strategically and develop critical thinking.

 

Photos and video from past chess tournaments are online at www.kclinc.org/chess

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Contact Information
Brent Schondelmeyer, Director of Communications
phone: (816) 410-8350
email: [email protected]