They were two days away from launching the 2026 legislative session when a half dozen Missouri lawmakers huddled with LINC leadership to survey the challenging landscape ahead.
They came to LINC’s Legislators Luncheon with questions and concerns Jan. 5 and left with a promise to work together to aid the children, families, seniors and neighborhoods that LINC and the lawmakers serve.
Because the work will be hard, they warned.
By many accounts, said Rep. Wick Thomas of Kansas City, across-the-board funding cuts are coming to state departments.
Rep. Donna Barnes of Raytown worried for the welfare of seniors and their need for more services.
Rep. Tiffany Price of Kansas City raised the pressing issues of violence, mental health and suicide shadowing youth.
Rep. Pattie Mansur of Kansas City feared for the changes and reductions coming in food stamp benefits and the strain on families.
It will be important, said Rep. Michael Johnson of Kansas City, that lawmakers can go into the Capitol chambers with ideas and solutions through services like LINC’s that not only aid the welfare of communities but show “we can save the state money.”
And while the work that advocates like LINC have done by visiting the lawmakers’ offices in Jefferson City is important, said Rep. Melissa Douglas of Kansas City, it will also be critical to be heard in the lower chambers where House and Senate committees forge the legislation.
“Come down to the basement,” Douglas said, “where the hearings are going on.”
From its beginning 33 years ago, LINC’s mission has been to give people in their own communities an empowered voice in the decisions and services of the state, said LINC Chief Operating Officer Jeff Hill.
The collaboration with legislators is an important piece of that work.
To the concern for seniors, LINC’s team raised the rapidly expanding services it provides seniors, anchored out of the Palestine Senior Citizens Activity Center in Kansas City.
For the safety and prosperity of youth, LINC has expanded the work in its Caring Communities sites at schools with The POSSE, Ossco Bolton’s program that develops leadership skills in youth and teaches gun safety and awareness.
All of the 55 LINC Caring Communities sites have site councils — regular meetings of community stakeholders — where they gather to build on their unique strengths and raise common concerns.
LINC programs like its Missouri Work Assistance program, Youth Services, support for early education centers and Caring Communities help individuals return to work, build independent lives, provide safe and affordable child care — all of which help make families self-sufficient and producers of community wealth rather than remaining in need of social services, saving the state money.
In Jefferson City, Mansur said, “getting people back to work is music to the ears.”
LINC is in the problem-solving business, said LINC President and CEO Janet Miles-Bartee. Not just at a system-wide level, but family-by-family and child-by-child.
LINC, the lawmakers’ staffs and all the many community partners joined in the work are in this together, she said, and LINC’s resources are always just a phone call away.
“You need us?” Miles-Bartee said. “Give us a call.”
