Remembering Tearo 'Missie' Condit: Her Hero Project gave children everlasting voice

Tearo “Missie” Condit’s Hero Project with Bob Walkenhorst was extraordinary in education. “It lifted kids up. Their chests pump up like they met a superhero. It makes them feel like . . . ‘I have a voice. I can do something!’”

'Black people should be very cautious'; the plea of a public health crusader

“African-Americans are no longer willing to sit in the back of the healthcare bus,” says Jim Nunnelly as he crusades for public health justice and awareness during the coronavirus pandemic.

Re-opening Kansas City Phase One (and this is hard): Take it slow

The eagerness to reopen Kansas City passes the point of pain for so many. The competing official declarations and the public health warnings have created a hall of mirrors as we try to find the right way out to recover lives that will never be the same again.

Making books happen: How critical reading goes on in quarantine

Throughout the city, reading advocates like LINC partners Turn the Page KC and First Book are inventing ways to get essential books into the hands of children and support to their parents and guardians.

No panic; Star School rises up to keep education going for court-involved teens

The pandemic was shutting down Missouri’s state-run schools for troubled youth. Teachers worried for their students whose tenuous grasp on education means so much to their chances to rise. Then, assuredly, an answer came to them: “Oh, right. Star School.”

Disconnected at home: KC’s pandemic-fueled race to get Internet access for all

The pandemic’s social isolation lights new fire to a long-running struggle to get everyone in Kansas City connected to the Internet. A look at who’s doing what, and how you can get help, or give help.

'What will you say you did?'

If we didn’t realize the stakes before, surely we do now. The pandemic of 2020 has peeled back the scars encrusted by generations of inequity. Lessons from a virtual educators’ seminar. “What will you say you did . . .?”

Need HOPE in KC's struggle with violence? Let the children rise

“The Science and Language of HOPE: Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences” promotes asset-informed care — acknowledging hardship and barriers but framing education around strengths — to help children rise out of hard life circumstances.

'Use it. Share it. Hash-tag it': KC's African American Heritage Trail launches quest to reach new audiences

A celebratory crowd cheered Kansas City’s new website that puts a growing wealth of local black history at our interactive finger tips on our phones. But their eye was on the greater audience they hope to reach: young people, their teachers, those who are unaware.

LINC staff rallies with lawmakers in support of free after-school programs

More than a dozen LINC site coordinators plied the hallways and the offices of lawmakers in Jefferson City on Feb. 20, lifting the achievements — and the struggles — of providing free before- and after-school programming serving more than 7,600 children in and around Kansas City.

'We're all learning together': 10 years of black history materials inspire community

Every year the special ed class at J.C. Harmon High School has picked out one of the great men and women featured in the latest set of local black history figures, sparking an educational adventure. LINC, the Kansas City Public Library and the Black Archives of Mid-America have been producing the materials for a decade.

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.

LINC's data system innovations highlighted by Social Solutions

LINC’s partnership with the Steve Ballmer-backed Social Solutions data revolution is turning heads.

Social Solutions, an Austin-based software company serving nonprofit organizations, recently highlighted LINC’s “innovative ways” in leveraging data in a blog post. This was the kind of partnership that Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, imagined when the Ballmer Group with his wife, Connie, invested $59 million to support Social Solutions’ work.

FAST graduation day celebrates new wisdom, shared anxieties, mutual joys — and friendship

Graduating families cherished moments of new wisdom, shared anxieties and mutual joys as the eight-week Families and Schools Together (FAST) program came to a close in Fort Osage.

Rosemary Smith Lowe and Lee Bohannon honored for social activism

Founding LINC Commissioner Rosemary Smith Lowe and LINC Community Organizer Lee Bohannon were recognized by the non-profit organization Communities Creating Opportunity with their Social Movement Activist & Advocate Award for 2019.

Crossing over: LINC advocates help aging foster children, former juvenile offenders bloom as adults

He’d crossed so many rivers of pain, but foster teen Dillon Spradley found an ally when LINC youth advocate Devon Robinson first appeared in the doorway of his guardian’s apartment.

LINC’s youth advocates have helped hundreds of youths in their transition from state care to living on their own, striving to help older foster children and teenagers in the juvenile justice system overcome perilous odds and become independent, thriving adults.

'They're on my side'; Star School puts court-involved teens on paths to success

If not for Star School, many Missouri teenagers like Adam would have no good educational options as they leave the juvenile justice system. The online program by LINC and the state Department of Youth Services has helped more than 630 youths since 2013.

'Families and Schools Together' in Fort Osage aims to make parenting easier for everybody

The first gathering of Families and Schools Together, Inc. refreshed Fort Osage parents and their children with a deep breath of community. Dinner, cooperative games, crafts, and peer support groups helped everyone appreciate the challenges and joys of parenthood. It’s not too late to join.

Unique library and food pantry in Independence "the start of something big"

The Farview community in Independence gathered for a joyous block party Aug. 17, celebrating the opening of a unique neighborhood library that shares a food pantry and other services.

'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.