Shake it up! Lights On Afterschool finds a new groove

No more was the pandemic going to hold back what LINC and its communities yearned to give and share. The fall weather came cool and clear, and LINC’s annual Lights On Afterschool events went outside to find a rush of parents, teachers and children ready to join the fun.

Neighborhood schooling: LINC carries aid to families during pandemic

The path to this moment — when tears slipped from a grandmother’s eyes — had wound its way door by door through neighborhoods that are hurting. Like many of LINC’s Caring Communities site coordinators, Danisha Clarkson was out in the field helping her partner school reach families of children who were unaccounted for or needed help in the new school year . . .

Destination unknown: Schools go boldly (with mixed plans) into new year with Covid

Here’s hoping that every school district will be able to say in the end that they planned right for Covid. Because, with no clear path through the pandemic, schools open the year vulnerable to second-guessing, whether all online or inside buildings with their teachers.

Covid overwhelming schools' plans for indoor fall openings

Our reckless summer with Covid-19 is proving all the warnings true. And now schools and their essential social infrastructure are toppling again under the weight of hundreds of new coronavirus cases every day just as districts were daring to launch meticulous, precarious reopening plans.

'Acting together to save lives': Schools close, focus on aid to families

LINC and area school districts now focus on how to help families get vital services of food, child care and internet connectivity as the coronavirus turns lives inside-out.

Center names Cargile as next superintendent; Hickman Mills seeks new leader

Hickman Mills Superintendent Yolanda Cargile isn’t going far at all to take on her next superintendent challenge. Five days after she told her Hickman Mills families that she was leaving the southeast Kansas City district, neighboring Center School District announced it had found its next leader: Dr. Cargile.

LINC In Photos 2019

We are happy to share LINC in Photos 2019 – a visual representation of LINC's impact and presence in the community.

'Lights On Afterschool' celebrates LINC's daily mission: Empowering children, families, communities

LINC’s annual “Lights On Afterschool” festivals are actually celebrations of LINC’s daily work with its partnering schools of strengthening the lives of children and empowering their families and neighborhoods.

Call for help: Ending student homelessness in Center School District

The mission of the Impact Center program is to end student homelessness in the Center School District within four years. Impact Center’s most pressing need is to raise funds to hire a full-time case manager to work directly and intensively with families to help them overcome their individual barriers to housing success.

Lawyers in your corner: Stressed KC communities fight back with 'Adopt-A-Neighborhood' legal teams

The Adopt-A-Neighborhood Project in Kansas City is helping communities turn around vacant properties with the help of volunteer law firms that join with Legal Aid of Western Missouri to help neighborhoods navigate a knotted legal system. LINC is looking to connect its Caring Communities sites with the project.

'An exceptional young man' lost to gun violence in Center, LINC community

Brian Bartlett was eight years old, just days away from starting the fourth grade at Center Elementary School and LINC’s Caring Communities after-school program.

The child was killed as he slept Saturday night, Aug. 10, when a barrage of gunfire ripped through his family’s house in the 8300 block of Tracy Avenue. His mother was wounded. Investigators still have no suspect information or know of any motive for the shooting, police said.

Center families get a jump on enrollment, fun at Back to School Bash

There was business to take care of for many of the families visiting Center’s Back to School Bash — like enrollment, immunization checks and such. But Center made sure it was fun.

Face-painting, balloon animals, mini-golf and hot dogs entertained the hundreds of adults and children who wandered through the many information booths, including a table for LINC.

Festivals, enrollment fairs to celebrate start of new school year

LINC’s partner school districts are gathering their families and communities to summer festivals to launch the start of the 2019-2020 school year with games, school supplies and enrollment opportunities.

KC School Suspension Summit: 'Oppression shows up when you don't know it's happening'

The 2019 School Suspension Summit in Kansas City challenged notions of power, race and identity to take on inequitable disparities in area school suspension data.

LINC readers eager to dive in at 'Summer Reading Splash' at Sprint Center

Children from LINC programs will join some 2,000 children at the Sprint Center June 19 for the Summer Reading Splash extravaganza. Turn the Page KC and several partners put on the program to help keep children reading through the summer.

LINC ready to grow as Hickman Mills, Center prepare families for changing schools

LINC is working with Hickman Mills staff to help ease the families’ transitions as the district closes Johnson and Symington elementary schools and the freshman center this summer. LINC is also opening a new Caring Communities site at Indian Creek Elementary School in the Center School District for the 2019-2020 school year.

Giving Grove's mission to children, communities expanding in LINC school sites

More Giving Groves are coming to LINC sites, giving more children the chance to help grow and nurture fruit-bearing trees for their schools and their communities.

Center School District overwhelmingly passes $48 million bond issue

The Center School District passes a $48 million bond issue with an overwhelming 82 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election.

LINC in Photos 2018

We are happy to share LINC in Photos 2018 -- a visual representation of LINC's impact and presence in the community. We look back on the year with pride in the accomplishments of our community and gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of the work. We wish you all the best for the year ahead. Happy holidays!

Marlborough Coalition hosts community cleanup

LINC supported an Oct. 21 community clean up hosted by The Marlborough Coalition in south Kansas City.

The City of Kansas City, MO. provided three trash trucks and a truck to haul off over 250 tires collected.

LINC site coordinators involved included John Herrera and Richard Williams.

The day concluded with an event at the Red Bridge shopping center where the Center Elementary School choir performed.