The Local Investment Commission has named former state Sen. Kiki Curls, lawyer Shawn Foster and longtime legislative aide Matt Haase to join the LINC commission in overseeing the work of LINC’s Caring Communities in support of children, families and neighborhoods.

Curls, Foster and Haase were chosen unanimously by the LINC commission at its April meeting.

Curls, the deputy director of the Heavy Constructors Association of Greater Kansas City, previously served as a state senator for nine years and four years as a member of the State House of Representatives, tirelessly advancing the causes of Kansas City families and neighborhoods.

Foster is a founding partner of Preuss | Foster Law, seeking to give everyone fair and equal access to justice, and an adjunct professor in Trial Advocacy and Constitutional Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, as well as a governor-appointed commissioner on the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.

Haase’s career spans 18 years as a top aide for U.S. Senator Roy Blunt on his Congressional staff in Washington, D.C., and his Senate staff in Missouri, and now as the senior director for external relations at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, building collaborations that help communities grow and thrive.

The new commissioners join LINC’s non-profit mission of delivering broad social services initiatives including workforce development, employment, and family engagement and providing important services to children and families through its Caring Communities programs anchored at 53 school sites across multiple school districts.

Caring Communities initiatives include social services and supports to children and families through food distributions, utility assistance, and household access to distance learning and technology assistance in addition to after-school programs.

LINC was created in 1992 by Bert Berkley, a Kansas City businessman, along with civic and community leaders Adele Hall, Rosemary Smith Lowe, Herman Johnson and Landon Rowland.