A student at Foreign Language Academy decorates her pumpkin at the 2012 Lights On Afterschool celebration.
LINC has partnered with Kansas City Public Schools since 1992. In a time when the district has been facing serious financial changes, LINC provides services that support children and families while allowing district staff to carry out their responsibilities of educating students.
Dr. Jennifer Collier is the district interim superintendent.
It might be a sullen child alone, head tucked down in the morning. Or an anxious child, lashing out at other children at the end of a school day. They can move hidden within the swirl of a busy classroom, and LINC is working with the Kansas City Health Department to help see to it that these children are seen, understood and comforted.
It’s not that they weren’t already good teammates. LINC’s Caring Communities coordinators and the Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Liaisons in the Kansas City Public Schools have naturally gravitated to their shared mission. But same as with the Chiefs in summer training camp, it sure helps to build a game plan.
On the surface, the night was all about fun — bus rides together to classic sports gyms and event spaces, stopping at a corner store for 3 a.m. for treats, gaming into dawn. But there was another layer, maybe not so obvious to the boys . . .
The experience is inspiring to the Pitcher community and to the other Caring Communities sites that are trying to empower their neighborhoods. “Shout out to the site councils,” LINC’s Andrew Smith said. “You have a chance to get out into the community and do some cool things.”
The LINC Morning Star meal program is part of a statewide network providing free food for children under 18. An online map and text number provides access to hundreds of locations in Missouri.
(816) 418-6553
lmaltbia@kclinc.org