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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume 7, Issue 3 May/June 2005   NEIGHBORHOODS HONOR THE PAST AND ANTICIPATE THE FUTURE Homes Association Observes Historic Rockhill District Centennial The Historic Rockhill District, the foundation of the vibrant Rockhill Homes Association is 100 years old. The area is primarily located immediately east of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, between Rockhill Road and Harrison Street, and from 45th Street south to Pierce Street, a block from Brush Creek. William Rockhill Nelson, founder and publisher of The Kansas City Star, planned the neighborhood to reflect a wide style of housing from the “worker’s cottages” modeled after those of the English Cotswalds to houses designed by the leading Kansas City architects of the day. Most of the homes in the 90-house neighborhood look very much like they did when they were built about 100 years ago. Most of the houses in today’s Rockhill Homes Association look very much like they did when they were built around 100 years ago. This photo of Pierce Avenue Houses was taken in 1905. “I should be unhappy if I thought the frame houses I had built would not be as good 50 years from now as they are today,” said their developer William Rockhill Nelson. Rockhill himself built Rockhill Road and other streets in the area to follow the natural terrain. The Rockhill area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and is also listed on the state and local registers. To celebrate, the Rockhill Homes Association hosted a public garden and architecture tour in May, held an anniversary party of current and former residents in June, and will be redeveloping a neighborhood “pocket-sized” park that honors Nelson.   Promise of Center Demonstrates Growing Strength of Ivanhoe Much has been accomplished since Ivanhoe residents began fighting less than ten years ago to take back their neighborhood. Located between 31st Street and Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and from Prospect Avenue to The Paseo, Ivanhoe was oppressed by crime, blight, disinvestment, apathy and despair. As a result of strong and tenacious leadership, strategic thinking and the capacity to build partnerships, today in that populous neighborhood: crime is way down, resident involvement and the value of properties are up, and new housing is being introduced while a housing rehabilitation program is underway. Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council Executive Director Margaret J. May, James B. Nutter & Company Vice President Eric Bushner, Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council President Alan Young, and Fifth District Kansas City Council Representative Terry Riley l ook forward to the dream of the Nutter Ivanhoe Neighborhood Community Center at the Pre-Construction Celebration. The recent Pre-Construction Celebration for the Nutter Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center at 3700 Woodland symbolized another success in the making for the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council. With the support of James B. Nutter & Company and Christmas in October, the neighborhood center is scheduled to be ready by the end of October. While Kansas City Power & Light funded a new roof and the Kauffman Foundation provided relocation funding, another $500,000 will be spent on the center’s renovation. Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council President Alan Young describes the emerging center as a “symbol of hope and a gathering space for the entire neighborhood.” Activities and programs will be planned for all ages, particularly the community’s youth and elderly. Office space will be available for Ivanhoe staff and other partners. Wanting to have a live in a safe place to raise their family, Alan Young and his wife Yolanda catalyzed efforts in the mid-‘90s to turn their neighborhood around. PARTNER UPDATES The Missouri Conservation Discovery Center has been renamed the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. The Missouri Conservation Commission honored Gorman by naming the center for her as she concluded twelve years of service on the commission in June. During that time she played a key roll in making the center at 4750 Troost Avenue a reality. Terry L. Beavers is the new director of the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. She replaces Wilhelmina Stewart, who has retired from city employment. Beavers is a member of the Kansas City Artists Coalition and chairperson of the Exhibition Committee for the Bruce R. Watkins Heritage Center. She has served as a member of the Artist Selection panel for the Kansas City Municipal Arts Commission and was a nominee for the Charlotte Street Award in 2004. The center, which is part of Kansas City’s Parks and Recreation Department, researches, interprets, preserves and exhibits the history and culture of Kansas City’s black community. Midwest Research Institute President and Chief Executive Officer James L. Spigarelli, recently received two awards from the Rotary Club: Business Executive of the Year and Rotary Centennial Service Award for Professional Excellence. The business executive award recognizes a non-Rotarian for major contributions made to business and the local community, while the service award recognizes the executive’s high ethical standards in their professional and personal life. Robert (Bob) Fluchel is the manager of the Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center. Prior to his appointment earlier this year, Fluchel held several positions in the Outreach and Education Division of the Missouri Department of Conservation in Kansas City over the past 20 years, and was involved in planning the Discovery Center. Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, in collaboration with Midwest Transplant Network, the region's nonprofit organ procurement organization, was recently awarded a Medal of Honor by the Department of Health and Human Services for outstanding rates of organ donation. The medal was awarded to hospitals for achieving life-saving organ donation rates of 75 percent or higher for a twelve-month period and those that demonstrated exemplary leadership and commitment to organ donors, donor families, and the nearly 88,000 patients on the national transplant waiting list. Just 184 of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals received the award. Saint Luke’s is part of Team MoKanDo, coordinated by Midwest Transplant Network. The team also includes Research Medical Center and the University of Kansas Hospital. Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin has been honored by the Human Resources Management Association of Kansas City with a Paragon Facet of Excellence Award. The worldwide law firm has been recognized for its use of a groundbreaking program that ties professional progress of its attorneys to specific performance measures and a professional development academy for its not-attorney staff. The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival is presenting Much Ado About Nothing in this, it's 13th season. This professional production is being offered free in Southmoreland Park every evening except Mondays, beginning at 8:00. UMKC NEWS Stephen Lehmkuhle, is serving as interim chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City until a permanent chancellor is named. Lehmkuhle is senior vice president for Academic Affairs for the University of Missouri System. UMKC Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Pat Long has been named acting executive vice chancellor. She continues to lead the Division of Student Affairs, Enrollment Management and University Communications while taking responsibility for University Advancement, effective July 1 until a new vice chancellor for Advancement is named. UMKC Provost Bill Osborne has accepted the role of dean, College of Engineering, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, effective August 1. Osbourne joined UMKC in 2002 as dean of the School of Computing and Engineering. In April 2004, he was selected to lead Academic Affairs as Interim Provost and last August accepted a two-year appointment as Provost. Interim Chancellor Stephen Lehmkuhle will announce an interim provost in the next few weeks. Bill French, UMKC vice chancellor for University Advancement retires June 30 after 34 years at the university. French came to UMKC in 1972 as director of Alumni Services and served as assistant to the chancellor from 1973-1980. In 1980, he was named Vice Chancellor for Advancement and has remained for 25 years. The Vice Chancellor for University Advancement leads the university’s fund raising, alumni and constituent relations, special events, community and state relations. When French came to UMKC, gift-giving on an annual basis was less than $1 million. This past year, UMKC received in excess of $65 million in gifts and pledges. Sharon Bostick, former director of Libraries at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, has been named dean and director of UMKC Libraries. For ten years, Bostick oversaw strategic planning and assessment, fundraising, budget planning and development for the libraries at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Charles J. Wurrey, has been named interim dean of UMKC’s College of Arts and Sciences. He has been with the university since 1974, having served most recently as Distinguished Teaching Professor of Chemistry and Executive Associate Dean of the college. SAINT LUKE’S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION LAUNCHES $75 MILLION PUBLIC CAMPAIGN Saint Luke’s Hospital Foundation volunteer leaders have announced the “Campaign for the New Saint Luke’s.” Reflecting the campus development priorities of the hospital, the $75 million campaign seeks to raise $25 million for capital improvements, plus an additional $50 million for equipment, medical programs, and endowments. The goals of the campaign include: improving facilities to enhance patient health, outcomes, and satisfaction. augmenting the quality and scope of the hospital’s specialty care programs – namely, its programs in cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, cancer, women and infants programs, and geriatric medicine. making greater investments in the hospital’s medical research and teaching programs. sustaining community services offered to the underserved in Kansas City. Campaign leaders announced that Saint Luke’s Hospital Foundation has raised 59 percent of the $75 million campaign goal, or $44 million, during the private leadership phase of the campaign. Saint Luke’s Hospital opened at its present location in 1923 with 150 beds. Today, with 629 licensed beds, Saint Luke’s is the largest hospital in the area. COMMUNITY FOUNDATION COMMISSIONS BLUE RIBBON PANEL ON HIGHER ED The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation has commissioned a Blue Ribbon Task Force of nationally-recognized leaders in higher education to conduct a study of higher education in the metropolitan area and the role it can and should play in the future of the Kansas City community. The intent of the study is to help guide business, philanthropic, civic and government leaders as they identify funding priorities and help to strengthen higher education in general, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City in particular. The study will identify the best methods for the civic and business community to support UMKC’s growth. The task force will share its findings with Missouri’s Government Reform Commission, which is studying the state’s role in higher education, among other matters. The task force also expects to complete the study in time to support the search for a new Chancellor at UMKC or be available for the new Chancellor’s consideration. The study process includes a review of best practices by leading urban universities across the country. The task force, which is about midway through its work, is gathering perspectives from college and university leadership in Missouri and Kansas, faculty, students, alumni, community leaders and government officials. The task force is being led by Benno Schmidt, Jr., chairman of the City University of New York, chairman of the Edison Schools board, and former president of Yale University. BOOK COMMEMORATES KCAI 120-YEAR HISTORY The History of the Kansas City Art Institute: A Century of Excellence and Beyond, looks back on 120 years of KCAI’s education of young artists and designers at the internationally-recognized college. Author and KCAI liberal arts Professor Milton S. Katz, has written a book that reflects on the college’s humble beginnings in the Deardorf Building at 11th and Main Streets to its current 15-acre campus located along Warwick Boulevard at 44th Street. Third- and fourth-year painting class, as shown in the Art Institute's 1917-18 catalogue, which declared: "An Art School is not a luxury. Today the world demands beauty of design as much in its workshops as in its art galleries. The Art School, by teaching how to produce this effect, has become a necessary factor in modern life." KCAI was initially founded in 18815 when 20 local businessmen and artists organized a Sketch Club to talk over art matters and judge pictures. The Kansas City Art Association and School of Design was incorporated July 18, 1887. KCAI serves 575 full time students. The History of the Kansas City Art Institute is available at KCAI’s Art Supply Store at 4421 Warwick. 2005 KCAI Painting Class conducted by Warren Rosser. EUROTAS’ FRESH PERSPECTIVE SEES BCCP AND KCNA SOLVING PROBLEMS IN KANSAS CITY Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to notice and appreciate what others take for granted. Gloria Eurotas has been in Kansas City just a few years — arriving in 2002 to take the job as executive director of the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance (KCNA). Although only joining the board of the Brush Creek Community Partners (BCCP) in January 2005, she has been involved with BCCP’s activities since her arrival in Kansas City. Eurotas has worked in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, always with a focus on housing and neighborhood/community development. While living in California, she worked for two housing authorities and ran a nonprofit housing corporation. In Texas, from 1997 to 2002, she was the Assistant Director of Housing for the City of Fort Worth. Gloria Eurotas Now in Kansas City, she is still focused on creating healthy communities. “BCCP generally has had an emphasis on promoting commercial development and KCNA’s focus is on neighborhoods. Being at the table allows me to bring the perspective of neighborhoods to create the outcomes we want for the whole Corridor.” As she works toward those outcomes, Eurotas clearly sees some challenges for KCNA and community development as a whole, beginning with sustainable funding. “Sustained and continued philanthropic funding is vital to KCNA’s ability to serve Kansas City neighborhoods and their residents.” KCNA, which is celebrating 25 years of service to the Kansas City community this year, is supported through corporate, foundation, governmental, and individual funding. Eurotas believes another challenge before KCNA and the city as a whole is maintaining the viability and value of property in Kansas City’s urban core neighborhoods. “The need for rehab and minor home repair in neighborhoods is critical. Although we focus on new construction, we understand the critical need to provide assistance to repair and restore existing homes, particularly in urban core neighborhoods.” She added, “All homeowners face the same challenges of maintaining their property but for homeowners in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods, the challenge is a little more difficult.” Eurotas has been involved in BCCP’s Healthy Neighborhoods Task Force since last year, and applauds the creative thinking going into efforts to bring resources into the Corridor’s neighborhoods for housing restoration and repair. While maintaining the physical structures of neighborhoods, KCNA also provides grassroots leadership and financial literacy training at the individual and neighborhood association levels. “KCNA’s comprehensive programming provides neighborhood residents with the opportunity to develop leadership skills and receive sound financial literacy education.” Eurotas is excited and honored to bring her neighborhood perspective to BCCP. “At KCNA we believe a strong city is built on strong neighborhoods, and with the wealth of expertise and resources around the table it can only help KCNA and BCCP create vibrant healthy communities.”