Walking the line: How LINC connected families to millions in rent, utility assistance

From the beginning, LINC’s effort to connect nearly 2,000 households to more than $2.8 million in U.S. rental and utility bill assistance funds was essentially a street mission.

Time to rise: State analysis shows how far performance fell during pandemic

It’s as severe as the education community feared. The effects of the pandemic on lost learning place a community-wide burden on everyone — including LINC’s Caring Communities — to help children recover.

Report: Aid for rent, utilities served low-income households; LINC knows 'It was no accident'

It started slowly, but once federal pandemic aid for rent and utilities began reaching Americans in need, more than 80% went as designed to low-income households. LINC played a key role in the Kansas City area.

'Tenant Problem Solver' online tool helps fight eviction, dangerous conditions and more

When problems boil up between renters and landlords, hotline services can be overwhelmed and legal aid offices busy. Now renters under stress can go online to the Tenant Problem Solver for help.

Free home Covid-19 testing kits can be delivered to you; here's how to get them

Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order four home COVID-⁠19 tests. The tests are completely free. Orders will usually ship in 7-12 days. The CDC urges households to order your tests now so they will be available when you need them.

Need a job? Need a better job? A state team is on call to help you

Help is standing by for Missourians seeking help in finding a job, or a better job.

The Missouri Workforce Initiative Team is waiting your call at 573-415-8337.

Surgeon General issues warning of youth mental health crisis. Here's what you can do

The pain is all around us, persistent and often hard to see. But a youth mental health crisis demands “a swift and coordinated response” to a pandemic that has “exacerbated the unprecedented stresses young people already faced,” says the U.S. Surgeon General.

LINC sends kids shopping with their friendly, neighborhood cop

For a day, Kansas City law officers traded police cruisers for shopping carts. Their partners were children, sent from LINC and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, eager to push the limits of $100 gift cards — and make friends.

Mattie Rhodes honors LINC, Morning Star, KC Fire for pandemic partnership

LINC, Morning Star and the Kansas City Fire Department accepted awards for the fast-acting teamwork that helped deliver thousands of Covid-19 vaccinations for communities hardest-hit by the pandemic, including hundreds of Mattie Rhodes households.

Covid vaccinations for children 5 to 11 now available. Here's how to get them.

With holidays coming and the promise of family gatherings and parties, Covid-19 vaccinations are now approved to help protect children ages 5 to 11 and their families from getting and spreading the virus. Here’s where to get them.

'New moments. New memories.' Lights On Afterschool helps turn the page

With grace and hard-won joy, the annual Lights On Afterschool events returned with their resilient communities in celebration of the power of community schools .

Fear not: Youth health ambassadors steel their courage to save lives

Look out, because one of the purposeful effects of ArtsTech’s Youth Health Ambassador’s training in Kansas City is the fire it’s lighting in its graduates like Ruskin High School students Jayleona Mayfield and Shymerra Butler.

Apply for one-time summer P-EBT food card benefit by Oct. 10

Families with children who qualified for free or reduced-price school meals in the last school year can also receive a one-time $375 benefit per child through the summer Pandemic-EBT card program. The deadline for making application is Oct. 10.

School lunchrooms' grim tale: This is the crisis that Covid built

A food service crisis up and down the supply chain has districts scrambling after new resources and paring down menu options to meet the critical task of feeding students. “School is the only place where some of our kids get a hot meal.”

Cleaver: KC now a model in nationwide struggle to provide rent and utility assistance

In a quick trip home from Washington, D.C.’s wars Saturday, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II stepped into the nest of Kansas City’s most vexing struggle. “Lack of adequate housing,” Cleaver said, “is the No. 1 issue right now in the United States. No question about it. This is it.”

Spread the word: Kansas City opens clinic to speed pandemic aid for rental and utility bill assistance

The city wants everyone’s help in spreading the word to get more households to apply. “We need to get the message out that you are not alone,” 3rd District City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson said. “A lot of people are in this situation for the very first time.”

Here's how to get your child tax credit if you are not getting automatic deposits

By now, most of you with children are already receiving the automatic $250 or $300 in extra monthly deposits in Child Tax Credits to help with the straining costs of raising families. But some households with children may be missing out and need help applying for the government relief. There’s an easy tool for that.

Families receiving food stamps to get $375 summer benefit for children under 6

Missouri families who are receiving food stamps can expect an additional benefit of $375 for each child under age 6. The extra funds will be added automatically to each household’s existing Electronic Benefit Transfer card (EBT) for food stamps — or SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Missouri food stamp benefits to increase beginning in October

The increase — approved by the federal government earlier in August — is the largest single boost in the program’s history. Learn more and see how you can apply.

Landlords, United Way urge renters to apply for Covid-19 relief for back-due bills

A massive federal relief effort is trying to catch up with the vast need of renters and landlords who are struggling with rents, utilities and mortgages because of the pandemic. More funds are coming and renters with past-due bills should apply, say the United Way of Greater Kansas City and local landlords.