Relief needed: Unpaid rents amassing pain on tenants, landlords, communities

Without more financial relief, warn advocates for both tenants and landlords, evictions, foreclosures and bankruptcies will come falling down as from a burst dam when the current, inadequate pandemic protections give way.

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 . . .

Strange new year: This is what it takes to get all families learning, thriving

With Labor Day behind them, the rest of the area’s school districts leapt into a most daunting school year this week. LINC was there to help as parents, teachers and their collective school community navigated the anxious first steps of remote learning.

'We can help!" LINC's team reaching out to aid children, families, communities

Call us. Do you need help assisting your child in online school? Are you seeking food resources? Do you know a neighbor in need? Connections to legal aid? Books for your children? Tips for seeking utility or rent assistance?Whatever the need, your LINC Caring Communities site coordinators are on the ground and ready to answer the call.

'Pain unlike any we've ever seen': Doctors issue dire Covid warnings for KC

Those weren’t their faces in the line of picture portraits. Nor were those their names. But the University of Kansas Health System professor telling their stories in an alarming public forum Wednesday assured that they and the devastation of Covid on their lives were real.

"Nonpartisan, basic democracy-saving stuff"; Poll workers needed

The equation dogging election boards in staffing Election Day polls is laced with variables that are either unknown or just plain bad. What this equation needs is a lot of new recruits to work the polls Election Day.

'Registration Sunday' urges all to join faith communities in enrolling voters

Yes, Lord, it’s that easy. Two minutes on your phone. Go to Vote411.org. Tap on “register to vote.” Sept. 13, “Registration Sunday,” church communities in KC will be taking a moment to get unregistered voters tapping their phones.

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.

Utility shutoffs loom over schools' plans to teach children online at home

As pandemic-cautious schools begin fall classes online, vulnerable families are grasping at the schools’ technology-dependent programming without safety nets that had barred utility shutoffs and landlord evictions.

Virtual chess tournament serves up perfect pandemic balm

Witness Day Two of LINC’s five-day summer virtual tournament as two dozen games play out across four age divisions — with a phantom joy of some 50 unseen players, safely tucked away in scattered homes with their laptops and desktop computers.

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.

Covid countermove: LINC Chess announces online tournament

Your move, pandemic. LINC’s chess instructors have made their play, responding to the devious opening move by their unexpected opponent — Covid-19 — by announcing LINC’s first summer virtual chess tournament.

Creativity rises against the COVID storm as schools scramble to re-open

Ideas on reopening schools during COVID are churning at warp speed. Here’s one example, in the name of safe-spacing: How about overflow class space and after-school programs in church basements?

LINC takes voter registration to the streets

“Every time they tell you, ‘I don’t have anyone to vote for’ — that’s an excuse,. Every time they tell you, ‘I don’t believe in voting’ — that’s an excuse. We are no longer accepting excuses.”

'You are professionals'; LINC trains child care specialists in power of relationships

LINC and the Infant and Toddler Specialist Network, despite the pandemic, is training child care workers to be stronger allies in helping families raise healthy, imaginative children who are ready for school and childhood.

Census 2020: KC's vulnerable communities in the eye of an under-count storm

“We’re in a desert.” Sand-colored shades in the middle of the latest map of Kansas City participation in the Census show tracts that remain below 50% — and even less than 30% in some — in the number of households that have filled out the 2020 count — putting millions of federal dollars at risk.

Marvin Francois leaves behind a recipe for healing

Whether in the role of husband, father, mentor, volunteer, or photographer, Marvin Francois was always there. The one face you knew you’d see. The rock in so many people’s lives. Lost to senseless violence. But a messenger of peace.

Come and get it; Fresh produce free and plentiful for pandemic aid in KC

The word’s got to get out. The USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box program supplies KC non-profits the chance to give away free 25-pound boxes of produce — and The Prospect, Kanbe’s Market and the Urban League want to deliver more into KC’s food deserts.

'How long?' Kansas City protesters join nationwide anger, despair over black deaths

An uprising of new anger on old embers swept over Kansas City over a hot weekend, both unnerving and steeling a community already shouldering the pandemic’s strain.

'Blown away': Crowds and rain both heavy for food giveaway in Fort Osage

The rain gathered force Thursday morning just as the line of cars began lining up early, filled with families eager to pick up free boxes of food and milk. Neither the rain nor the line of cars outside Fort Osage Middle School in Independence would stop before all 1,900 boxes of food and milk were given away.