Caring Communities are neighborhood-based networks that bring together schools, families, service providers, and community partners to help children and families thrive.

LINC anchors Caring Communities in places people already go: schools, community centers, and other trusted spaces across the Kansas City region. The idea is simple. Families shouldn’t have to navigate complex systems on their own, so Caring Communities bring the resources to them. Academic support, food assistance, employment resources, youth development, family engagement programs, help removing barriers to stability — all of it accessible closer to where families live and work.

With more than 50 locations across the metro, each Caring Communities site is shaped by the people who know it best. Local Site Councils, led by Site Coordinators, give residents, schools, local organizations, faith communities, and civic partners a seat at the table to identify needs, build on what’s already working, and set priorities that reflect the neighborhood.

Caring Communities start from the belief that every neighborhood holds real strengths: relationships, leadership, and lived knowledge that no outside program can replicate. LINC’s role is to connect people to resources and to strengthen what’s already there, while making sure community members have a genuine say in what happens in their own neighborhoods.