'Here to do our job'; LINC re-opening more sites, Covid-safe

Covid-19 cases are in rapid decline. Vaccines are coming. Reports from the CDC of low transmission in safe schools are encouraging . . . More children are coming back into school buildings, and LINC is ready.

The show will go on (and the prizes!) at virtual Hickman Mills Family Summit

Don’t worry. Things you love about the Hickman Mills Family Summit will be right there at your finger tips as the show goes on virtually March 6. Including the wealth of prizes.

Updates: Students returning to classrooms as Covid cases fall, with new CDC guidance

t’s been a long road. That’s for sure. But continued declines in Covid-19 cases plus more aggressive advice from the Centers for Disease Control are opening the doors for Kansas City Public Schools, Hickman Mills and Center to bring students back into in-person classrooms in the weeks ahead. And other districts hope to bring more students into already-open buildings.

Morning Star Baptist, LINC take Covid-19 vaccines to the people

Because “Covid-19 is so serious in our community,” Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church and LINC work with the state and the National Guard to bring vaccinations to one of Kansas City’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

Vaccines and how to beat Covid: 'The answer is in us'

In the campaign for Covid vaccinations, “The answer is in us,” Jim Nunnelly says. “We have assumed Black people don’t know anything — don’t want to do anything . . . and that is so untrue. There is great capacity in our community. Great capacity.”

Watch: Renters rights and responsibilities; tips from Legal Aid, Hickman Mills' Justice in Schools

Legal Aid of Western Missouri attorneys offer important tips about eviction moratoriums, rent payment plans, safety inspection programs and tenant rights in this LINC video.

$30 million for rent relief coming; here's how to apply

Help is on the way in Kansas City’s struggle against a feared “eviction tsunami.” Area relief agencies will soon have access to more than $30 million in additional Covid-19 federal relief dollars to help pay back rent for households suffering losses because of the pandemic. Here’s how to apply.

'What can I do?'; LINC rushes to aid families in devastating apartment fire

The overnight news footage, just days after Christmas, swept like the fire itself through LINC’s communities. A devastating fire had fully engulfed one of the large residences at the Waldo Heights Apartments in south Kansas City. Families needed help and LINC was ready.

Dealt a hard hand: Here's how First Call, LINCWorks are lifting up families in crisis

First, breathe. This is where the training began in First Call’s recent work with LINCWorks case manager-life coaches. The advice goes both to a parent anxious over the welfare of their hungry child, or the case manager anxious over how to help them rise. You have to connect yourself to life’s oxygen mask.

Love adds up: Four days, a thousand families, 78,998 pounds of food

At times the wind came whipping cold. Other times a chilling drizzle coated the workers’ parkas and vests. But a partnership between Church of the Resurrection and LINC to deliver meals and other support to Kansas City families carried on regardless of sunshine or winter gloom because the needs of the people lining up in their cars did not change with the weather.

Covid-19 vaccinations are coming; Here's how to get in line

The coronavirus cruelly spread heavier doses of pain over under-served communities already suffering from inequities in health care and social opportunity. The vaccines and their promise of recovery can’t leave these same communities behind.

Church of the Resurrection, LINC join in holiday food distributions

Kansas City parent Tiffany Relves was in a state of mind of feeling “like there is no hope” when she got word of one of the Church of the Resurrection’s food drives with LINC. “We have been going through some very hard times this past year. This means everything to my family. This has truly been a blessing to me and my children’s life.”

Watch: LINC reinforcements help U.S. Marines in 'Toys for Tots' overload

There was a problem. The days to Christmas were counting down. It looked like a mountainous proportion of the some 40,000 toys the Kansas City Marines’ Toys for Tots collect each year was still piled on the vast floor. LINC’s Carl Wade asked: Do you need volunteers?

Missouri families' pandemic pain demands urgent response, new study says

Thousands of Missouri children are not getting enough to eat, a new nationwide study shows. Thousands live in fear of eviction. Many have no health insurance. And all across the state a mental health emergency is growing.

Ready to serve joy: LINC embraces Toys for Tots mission

The U-Haul truck is reserved and LINC’s Carl Wade is standing by, awaiting orders from the U.S. Marines. The mission: Help the Corps deliver the gifts of the Marine Toys for Tots program to families in LINC’s Caring Communities.

Calling all KC hands to rescue education system 'on verge of collapse'

The “frightening” expanse of unenrolled or disengaged children across the Kansas City area can be rounded into large numbers — or bared one-by-one. An enrollment and drop-out task force is issuing a call to educators, business leaders, policy makers and anyone else who wants to join in the work.

LINC expands community efforts to bust pandemic's barriers for children and families

The mother’s needs came tumbling out like the insides of a dumped suitcase. This was going to take some doing — finding temporary storage, relief from utility bill debt in the thousands of dollars, and fulfilling her child’s prayer that her family would get a new home by her birthday.

Many ways to get help with housing, utilities: 'Pick up the phone and call'

Two truths from a virtual summit on KC’s help services: The strain on families — many of whom are experiencing severe need for the first time — has become overwhelming. But a rising wave of financial help and services is just as strong.

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.

Voting at Arrowhead: 'Our responsibility' (and we 'love the Chiefs!')

A giant bowl of blue sky and crisp autumn air seemed capable of bringing the statue of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt to life as voters came to Arrowhead Stadium Election Day in what was for many an electric moment in their voting lives.