From making office products to assembling Boulevard Beer variety packs, Alphapointe provides job opportunities to Americans nationwide who are blind or visually impaired. The year long celebration of their centennial culminates on November 12 when five-time Grammy Award winners The Blind Boys of Alabama will perform at the Midland Theater. For more details, click here.
Alphapointe started in 1911 when a small but determined group of people, led by our founder Catherine Hale, decided that the American dream of an independent and productive life should be attainable for all people, regardless of their ability to see. Dissatisfied with depending on the kindness of family or suffering the prejudices of employers, these capable and enterprising workers formed the Kansas City Association of Blind Workers and began making straw brooms in a cramped warehouse.
Today, Alphapointe is the largest employer of people who are blind in the state of Missouri and the only provider of the education and rehabilitation services necessary for people who are blind to live, work and be independent.
Next week, KCPT joins with PBS in launching an unprecedented look at the astounding contributions women have made to the advancement of America with the broadcast premiere of the documentary series MAKERS: Women Who Make America.
The landmark multi-platform initiative co-produced by PBS And AOL chronicles the important advancements made by women over the past 50 years.
In the spirit of celebrating women and their contributions, KCPT invited you to nominate groundbreaking women who have sparked change in our community. The votes are in and this half hour on The Local Show, we introduce you to three inspiring women who have made a difference in our metro.
Our first local MAKER is Suzanne Gladney of Legal Aid of Western Missouri, who up until now, has not received much recognition for her work, but she has spent more than thirty years as a legal aid attorney assisting undocumented workers and migrant families in our Kansas city region. LAWMo clients are people who have nowhere else to turn, who without the legal assistance LAWMo can provide, would likely become homeless statistics or worse.
In 1978, frustrated that they couldn’t join business organizations and private clubs reserved for men only, a small group of women came together to form The Central Exchange. Today, The Central Exchange is celebrating its 35th year as the metro’s most prominent women’s advocacy and business networking organization. Nick spoke with the organization’s new President and Chief Executive CiCi Rojas.
Dodie Jacobi, an area entrepreneur, made the cut when we asked on our website, our KCPT magazine and on our social media pages Who should be celebrated on KCPT as a woman who made a difference in our metro? Dodie for decades, has been deeply involved in revitalizing Kansas City’s historic neighborhoods by promoting entrepreneurship and the development of small businesses in the Crossroads, the Westside, and Hyde Park.
Right now though, we profile our third local MAKER and it is a woman who repeatedly bumped and bumped against the glass ceiling before smashing through it. Our MAKER spent 30 years on the Kansas City Missouri police force and while you may not know her name or may have never heard her story, Ramona Arroyo is the first Hispanic woman to become a sergeant with the KCPD.
What is gratifying about these nominations are that these are not your usual suspects. We’re hearing about women who are making a difference…oftentimes away from the public eye. But there were more well known names among the nominations like former Mayors Kay Barnes and Carol Marinovich and former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius who is now, of course, Health Secretary in the Obama administration.
There were lots of worthy nominees, some we’ve already featured on The Local Show like Sister Berta Sailor who is doing remarkable work for the children served at Operation Breakthrough and Pastor Alice Piggee-Wallack who’s giving her life to the inner city homeless. There is also the work of local anti-bullying campaigner Sue-Ellen Fried. And then there’s Dr. Sharon Lee the medical doctor who claims a $14 an hour salary…the same as the janitor at her Southwest Boulevard Family Health Clinic. We profile her story on The Local Show on March 21st.
Life hasn’t been so good for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum since Buck’s passing five years ago. The facility in the 18th and Vine Jazz District has gone through financial and leadership struggles. This spring, the musuem’s board picked Bob Kendrick to to take over the museum in hopes of drawing in new fans and turning a profit.
Host Doug Frost is joined by three new guests: Dolly Wood, Chris Stenger and Kirsten Byrd. This week, reviewers recommend The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange in the Crossroads, Esquina in Lawrence, and 3 Women and an Oven in South Overland Park.
Host Doug Frost is joined in the KCPT studios by three new guests, Kayla Manning, Jennifer Bickel and Geraldo Pazar, recommending Kitty’s Cafe, the Gaslight Grill and Real Jalisco Fine Mexican Cuisine!
Check, Please! Kansas City is KCPT’s restaurant review show where host Doug Fost sits down with regular viewers like you dine and dish on their favorite local eateries.
Each episode features three guests; each recommends his or her favorite restaurant. The other two guests then go and experience it for themselves. After the guests have experienced each other’s recommendations they meet at KCPT’s studio to discuss their experiences. The reviewers are not affiliated with any restaurant, nor are they food experts. They come from all walks of life—attorneys, scrub techs, self-proclaimed media darlings—and the list goes on. They live all over the metropolitan area, including one intrepid soul who trucks in to work every day from Baldwin City, Kansas. The one thing the guests do share is their passion for food and for their chosen restaurant.
Thai Place, Henry’s Tea Room and Antiques, and The Westside Local
Reviewers recommend the Thai cuisine in Overland Park, Kansas; the home made treats in a tea room in Lee’s Summit, Missouri; and the local food stylings in the Westside Neighborhood of KCMO.
Author Christopher B. Leinberger describes how government policy over the last 60 years – driven by the auto and oil industry – has encouraged suburban sprawl with its strip malls and isolated housing developments. The result: decline of community, urban decay, pollution, and a rise in obesity and asthma. But there’s a new approach (or perhaps it’s an old approach) in which citizens live, work, and play within easy walking distance.
Developer and educator Leinberger is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and is director of the Graduate Real Estate Program at the University of Michigan.
Make Your Reservation
Christopher B. Leinberger: The Option of Urbanism
April 18, 2012 – Reception: 6pm — Program: 6:30pm
Location: Central Library, Kansas City Public Library, 14 West 10th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105
