Big ideas were percolating.

From one side of the room to the other, 20 older adults at the Palestine Senior Citizens Activity Center in Kansas City were honing basic computer skills and imagining the possibilities.

“I’m trying to start my own business,” said Sislender Roston, talking about a non-profit idea she has been working on. “I  want to help addicts,” she said. “I know how hard it is. I want people to be okay.”

And because LINC has brought in the non-profit Essential Families and its Economic Mobility Program, she believes even more that it’s going to happen.

Like most of the 20 people in the class, she is excited that computer skills that can help her manage email, connect her to family, navigate medical records and pay bills are also the pathway to creativity and energy in her retirement years.

“I need a computer,” Roston said.

Essential Families’ Economic Mobility Program means to be everything that Roston and her friends need, said founder and CEO Terri English-Yancy. The classes teach them the skills they need on new laptops — which they get to keep — as they work in groups of five with one of Essential Families’ case managers. The program will also connect them to Essential Families’ online network of services and resources.

LINC and its Caring Communities programming has been operating the Palestine center at 3325 Prospect Ave. since 2024, greatly expanding the services and opportunities for a membership that has grown past 500. Many of those opportunities are driven by new partnerships like the collaboration with Essential Families.

“We know everyone needs access,” Yancy said. “We want to connect them to our wrap-around services. We have telehealth. Many of them are grandparents caring for grandkids. They need to feel comfortable with a computer and be connected.”

Palestine member Linda Milan already has many of the computer skills she needs, she said, but she badly needs a new computer, which she can’t afford on her own. Milan is an associate minister at nearby Friendship Baptist Church and constantly struggles, she said, to connect with the work going on in the community.

Milan said she is grateful for the many ways her life can change with a better computer and sharpened skills.

“It will allow me to participate again,” she said. “It’s a godsend. I feel like I’m part of the community and can help others.”

Jackson County Legislator Venessa Huskey was watching the class — the first of a six-session process — to see the Essential Families program at work at Palestine. Huskey advocated for Essential Families to receive financial support from the county.

The enthusiasm in the class, and the stories like those told by Roston and Milan, confirmed her belief in the program.

“There are many places seniors can get help with food and clothing,” Huskey said. But it is much harder, she said, “to get help like this.”

LINC has been emphasizing computer connectivity with seniors since early 2025, boosted by funding from the Health Forward Foundation that allowed LINC to create a computer lab at Palestine.

Essential Families is helping spread more computer literacy across the senior population, said Yolanda Robinson, the LINC Caring Communities Coordinator at Palestine.

The ultimate goal, Robinson said, is to “train the trainer” and build a capacity among members at Palestine so they can continue to guide fellow members in computer literacy.

The demand for Essential Families’ program is growing, Yancy said. Twenty is the maximum number Essential Families can serve in one of its classes, and many Palestine members have already added their names to Essential Families’ waiting list. Essential Families has provided computers and training and support services to 1,060 families so far, Yancy said, but the waiting list now exceeds 2,500.

So the pursuit for more funding goes on, she said.

She would like to bring more classes to Palestine and LINC. It’s a way to bring the services to the people who need it in an environment that is comfortable to them, she said.

Both LINC and Essential Families “are strengthening the community,” Yancy said. “This is a safe place and LINC has built that trust, and we’re putting on that extra layer.”