Many of us have heard of Head Start, but we don’t always have a full understanding of what they do. Guest host Barbra Porter sits down with the directors of the Mid-America Head Start program to discuss their focus on not only ensuring children are ready to learn when they enter school but also on its services for nutrition, health and family support.
Mid-America Head Start and Early Head Start serve more than 3,000 infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers in Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri. We are dedicated to improving the well-being of low-income families by working with each family to identify their specific needs.
Last September, we devoted an entire Local Show episode to bullying and hate. Since then, KCPT has been working behind the scenes with area schools to produce their own anti-bullying messages. This week, we feature the message produced by the Fairfax Learning Center, a high school in Kansas City, Kansas.
Here is a look at another spot that was produced by students at FL Schlagle High School in Kansas City, KS:
Last week, the National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC) hosted their annual convention at the Westin Crown Center Hotel. The NCEBC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to reinstate academic rigor and relevant teaching, improve the assessment of such instruction, and prepare the African-American learner for effective participation in a competitive global society.
Approximately 600 educators from across the United States and over 250 middle and high school students from Greater Kansas City attended the NCEBC Convention. The event featured discussions by both local and national education experts.
The Local Show shares some excerpts from the panel discussion: “Creating a Sense of Urgency to Increase Black Male Achievement: A Call to Action.” Among others, the panel included Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and the Council of Chief State School Officers Executive Director Gene Wilhoit. The NCEBC also recognized high achieving urban schools and individuals who have made significant contributions to urban education, and amongst the distinguished awardees was University Academy, founded by Tom Bloch, Lynn Brown, and Barnett and Shirley Helzberg.
The topic of bullying is prevalent in the news these days. It’s even the subject of a major new movie now playing in area theaters. It’s called, simply Bully.
This year, over five million kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience.
We begin this week’s Local Show by introducing you to an unexpected bullying prevention resource in our metro…Wayside Waifs. What, you might ask, does an animal shelter know about bullying? Well, as you’re about to see, it seems quite a lot.
As statistics show, many bullies begin their harassment hurting animals. Wayside Waifs provides a unique violence prevention curriculum for grade school kids that involves bringing dogs into the classroom to teach some important lessons. The program is called No More Bullies.
The Local Show rides along with the police in Johnson County as part of an innovative project to reduce the number of mentally ill heading to our area jails. It’s called the Mental Health Co-Responder Program and it was developed though a partnership between the Johnson County Sheriff’s office, Johnson County Mental Health and the Olathe Police Department. What happens if a mental health worker were to accompany police on some of their calls? Would the outcomes be different?
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.
Hallmark, Marion Labs, H&R Block, Cerner and American Century. These are but a few examples of the entrepreneurial successes that began in Kansas City. Now Google has picked Kansas City as the starting point for revolutionizing how we use the internet and for spawning a new generation of innovation and entrepreneurship.
While we were busy with the KCPT membership drive last week, Kansas City Mayor Sly James was busy saving America’s urban cities.
More than a dozen U.S. Mayors rolled into town along with political and thought leaders from around the country. They were convening at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts for the CityAge Summit on The New American City.
Kansas City is only the third place, and the first U.S. city, where CityAge has held a summit. The first two have been in Canada.
The Kansas City event wound up attracting more than 550 people from 259 organizations and 73 cities. Producer Justin Bond eavesdropped on some of the sights and sounds of the two-day convention that included a nod to Kansas City’s musical heritage.
