'People changing their minds' on vaccinations; Blunt, Lucas say Morning Star/LINC leading the way

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt looked across the room in a community center at 27th and Prospect, watching Covid-19 vaccinations in progress, seeing confidence and hope where there might not have been so much before. “People are changing their minds,” the senator said about vaccinations. And Morning Star and LINC are leading the way.

Racial terror's deepest scar: Kansas City remembers lynching of Levi Harrington

Levi Harrington lived his life in a Black man's world laced with the unfathomable fear of lynching. He died 139 years ago last week, roped at the neck and slung over a beam on the Bluff Street Bridge by a white mob in Kansas City's West Bottoms — murdered at the age of 23.

'I came to lead the way;' See the faces of people getting vaccines at Morning Star

They were restaurant workers, community organizers, neighbors. . . . They came to get their Covid-19 vaccination — certainly because they wanted to protect themselves and others — but also with a sense of obligation to put their faces out front against fear and doubt.

Cleaver: Witnessing community-building 'as great or greater than I have ever seen'

The Morning Star–LINC vaccine and food distribution only continues to grow, the Rev. John Modest Miles told Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. “There is no ending in sight as long as the people keep coming. And as you can see now, the people are coming.”

North Kansas City Schools goes big on early childhood education

It’s a small crew, embarked on this first voyage across the wide open sea of North Kansas City Schools’ new Early Education Center. But the thrill of first adventures fills these warm learning spaces, with the promise of so many more to come in the hundreds of children who will follow them here in the years to come.

Kansas City education leaders urge COVID vaccinations

Their districts’ neighborhoods are hard-hit by Covid, but “here we have an opportunity to do something about it,” said KCPS Superintendent Mark Bedell as he was vaccinated. “I’m doing my part to keep everyone safe,” said Center Superintendent Yolanda Cargile.

When ‘home’ is a roadside hotel, Impact Center Schools opens a way out

Just drive. Keep picking up taxi fares. Drive sick. Drive while tortured by an infected tooth. Drive exhausted. Otherwise, Center School District parent Josh McConnaughey feared, he’d lose the last grip he had on a “home” for his three teenaged sons — the weekly-rate hotel room looking out on wheel-roaring Interstate 435.

Hickman Mills Family Summit shines online (and it's still live!)

The Hickman Mills Family Summit went virtual with success. And the best part: It’s still there, online, ready to serve any family looking for help or ideas from dozens of community resources, and job opportunities, and school pages.

Hickman Mills families grateful for 'Justice in the Schools' legal aid

The letter in June that told Lazanay Wandick the government was cutting off her pandemic unemployment benefits was not even the worst of the news. Far from it. See how the “Justice in the Schools” program aided her and other Hickman Mills families.

'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.