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BCCP
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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume
13, Issue 1
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BCCP
4743 Troost
Suite 200
Kansas City, MO
64110-1727
Ph: 816-523-2991
Fax: 816-523-2281
THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN
Volume 13, Issue 1
January / February / March 2011
KCAI FINDS NEXT PRESIDENT IN FRANCE
Jacqueline Chanda, academic dean of the Institute for American Universities and director of the Aix Center in Aix-en-Provence in France, has been appointed president of the Kansas City Art Institute, effective July 1.
Before her appointment in 2009 as academic dean and director of the Aix Center, Chanda was associate dean of academic and student services at the University of Arizona. Earlier she was on the faculty of the University of North Texas, where she was chair and professor of art education and art history. She has taught French in Zambia, been a lecturer at the University of Zambia and served as a classroom teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She also has taught at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and The Ohio State University. Chanda is a member of the International Council of Fine Arts Deans; the National Art Education Association; and the College Art Association.
Jacqueline Chanda"I am excited to have the opportunity to lead KCAI during the next important phase of its growth with the assistance of talented faculty, dedicated staff, and a progressive board of trustees," Chanda said. "Drawing from my academic, professional, and international experience, my goal will be to strengthen and expand KCAI's academic mission and contributions to visual arts and design education."
Chanda succeeds Kathleen Collins who retires June 30, after serving as president of the college since 1996. (See related profile later in this newsletter.)
CREATING JOBS BY BUILDING BUSINESSES
IN CORRIDOR NEIGHBORHOODSFor over a decade, Swope Corridor Renaissance/Upper Room Inc. has been providing high quality academic programs for low income families, starting with children in the Brush Creek Corridor.
Now Swope/Upper Room wants to takes steps to change the community and lives by focusing on job creation in the Town Fork Creek and Blue Hills Neighborhoods by starting businesses that serve the needs of participating anchor institutions in or near the Brush Creek Corridor.
Brush Creek Community Partners is partnering with Swope/Upper Room's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative by connecting the
effort’s leaders with institutions in the Brush Creek Corridor to identify products or services they need, and helping recruit volunteers.Swope/Upper Room has established a 14 member Select Committee that has researched successful models to transform high-poverty neighborhoods. It is following the "Cleveland Model," which improved the community surrounding that city's High Tech Corridor by pooling the collective buying power of institutions that purchase needed products and services from neighborhood businesses established to meet those needs.
Mazuma Credit Union President and Chief Executive Officer Rob Givens will chair the initiative's Business Formation Subcommittee, which will recommend new business opportunities to the Select Committee. "Building true business opportunities in the neighborhoods to engage the residents and create a sustainable economy seems like an extremely productive goal," said Givens. "This "circle of life" can create jobs, support local businesses and uplift the community! What could be more worthwhile?" Givens is a member of the BCCP Board of Directors and its immediate past- president.
The Select Committee will arrange for workforce training for the new businesses, as well as the facilities and needed start-up capital. Swope/Upper Room plans to start a catering company to serve 2,000 of its students in its reading and tutoring programs and optimize use of its fleet of 65-passenger buses by opening a transportation company.
In addition to business formation, the Select Committee is developing subcommittees to address education, literacy, health and recreation, and safety needs in the two neighborhoods where the initiative is starting.
One neighborhood leader is very optimistic about the program's success. "The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative is an
opportunity to stabilize, grow and likely thrive, said Bill Hart, vice president of the Blue Hills Neighborhood Association. "We should take advantage of strategies that have proven successful, especially given the remarkable resources within our neighborhoods." Hart is also a member of the BCCP board.
BRUSH CREEK WATERSHED WORKSHOP ON THE BI-STATE REACH
Thursday, April 21 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Mission Hills Country Club
5400 Mission Road, Mission Hills, KS
The Bi-State Reach, from Roanoke Boulevard in Kansas City into Johnson County, has been an area of particular community concern for years. At this workshop, the community will have the opportunity to review and comment on conceptual alternatives that have been developed to depict improvements in this section of the creek. These alternatives have been designed to reflect considerable public input that has been received over several months. They are available for examination at www.brushcreekwatershed.com. Workshops on the Bruce R. Watkins bridges and Rock Creek reach are being planned for later in 2011.
For more information, call 816-523-2991.
PARTNER UPDATES
Midwest Research Institute has become MRIGlobal. The name and logo change reflects a broader mission and impact of the 67-year old research and development organization with its headquarters along Brush Creek. Its work has grown to provide global solutions in national security and defense, energy and environment, life and animal sciences, agriculture and food safety, and transportation. MRIGlobal operates in nine states and Washington, D.C., and manages more than 3,000 employees.
Rockhurst University has recently been awarded a couple of notable distinctions:
The Kauffman Foundation is a leader in the StartUP America Partnership, a new initiative aimed at fostering successful
innovative, high growth businesses in the United States. Nonprofit entrepreneurial leaders like the foundation are joined by top entrepreneurs, start-up firm financiers, universities, foundations, business and other leaders from across the private, government and nonprofit sectors to identify and encourage private-sector partners to commit resources to help seed and grow entrepreneurial companies.
Saint Luke's Brain and Stroke Institute has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Saint Luke's commitment to and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.Former United States Representative and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton has joined Husch Blackwell LLP. Skelton will advise firm attorneys and clients on a variety of legal and public policy issues, especially matters related to national defense, small business and international trade. He will work primarily from the firm's Washington, D.C., office. He represented Missouri’s Fourth District in Congress from 1972 to 2010.
INDOOR GROUNDBREAKING
A thunderstorm did not delay the groundbreaking kick-off event for Rockhurst University's campus master plan in March. Rockhurst President the Rev. Fr. Tom Curran, O.S.F.S. (left) led campus and community leaders, as well as design and
construction principals for the project, in breaking ground for the Rockhurst University North Parking Garage…in the school's Greenlease Library. Garage construction started the next week with scheduled completion by the end of 2011. The plan and construction projects are endorsed by the neighborhoods adjacent to the campus following considerable negotiation with the community.
WEATHER RADIOS WILL HELP LOCAL
COMMUNITY BE AWARE
To assist local neighborhoods in their emergency preparedness, the Midland Radio Corporation and the Kansas City Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) coordinated with Brush Creek Community Partners and the Green Impact Zone to donate all-hazard weather radios to 20 community facilities along Brush Creek. At a media event observing Severe Weather Awareness Week, at which several of the radios were presented, (from left) Shawna and Jon Davies of AMS explain the devices to Melissa Williams, special events coordinator for Christian Fellowship Church, and Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council Executive Director Margaret May.
SWOPE/UPPER ROOM:
EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMICSIt started with a summer program that focused on helping kids learn how to read better.
Now it serves 2,600 students in the Summer Academic Camp held in 23 churches with libraries and computer labs throughout the central city. By 2013, over 3,500 children will be enrolled in Swope Corridor Renaissance/Upper Room Inc.’s camp. The rest of the year, over 700 students participate in the After School Tutorial Program and volunteers are recruited to tutor a student for an hour each week.
When evaluators found out the reading skills of children in Swope Corridor Renaissance/Upper Room Inc.'s program advanced one grade in eight weeks, Johns Hopkins University named it the best summer reading program in the country.
Not only has the number of children served grown exponentially, so have the programs. The Summer Academic Camp provides an ARTS Program with music, art and dance lessons. It also offers what has been identified as the Best Family Literacy Program in the state. In 2008, Swope/Upper Room owned two 65-passenger buses to transport its participants; now it maintains a fleet of ten.
Swope Corridor Renaissance/Upper Room is currently launching a business and job creation initiative in the Town Fork Creek and Blue Hills Neighborhoods. If its track record in academics is any indication, the community, will indeed, be transformed.
COLLINS REFLECTS UPON ART INSTITUTE’S ROLE IN COMMUNITY
Fifteen years ago, when she took the reins of the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) as its President, Kathleen Collins says the school was not perceived as engaged with the community. One of her top priorities was to change that perception. Now, as she prepares to retire on June 30, Collins believes KCAI has taken major steps to visibly reach out to the community around it.
Kathleen CollinsFrom her first days at the helm of KCIA, Collins has been interested in and concerned about the neighborhood around the school and Kansas City's arts community. In fact, she laughs that she grew up in Chicago thinking that she was going to be a social worker.
Instead, she established herself as a successful photographer, with work in the collections of several museums in the United States and Mexico. She then served as a Professor and Dean of the School of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
When she came to Kansas City to run KCAI in 1996, Collins hoped to make the city's oldest cultural institution as well known locally as it was nationally. Perhaps drawing from her volunteer work in Chicago, Collins told the Brush Creek Bulletin in 1999, "One of my primary goals for the college is not only to have it better known, but for the college to continue to develop as a valuable resource for the community. We are very committed to the concept of outreach."
Coming Out From Behind The Walls
It's not that KCAI was not involved with the community, she says, but it was not perceived as being involved and engaged. The college took two big steps toward changing that perception.
First, it changed its physical appearance, opening up its eastern border by taking out a fence to allow the community in. Collins says even small changes helped, such as removing the restriction on walking dogs on KCAI property. In 1999, the institute took a huge step forward when it opened the H&R Block Artspace in the Southmoreland Neighborhood at 16 East 43rd Street. While the Artspace serves students, it also provides for interaction between artists and the public, stimulating dialogue about local issues
A second major step was talking within KCAI about the importance of the institute's interactions with the community. "It was a value people held, but it had rarely been spoken about," Collins said. "We had not really articulated the importance of the
college extending itself." Collins says faculty members readily embraced the idea of doing projects within Kansas City. She's proud of the Community Arts and Service Learning certificate the college now offers, allowing students to supplement their education with a sense of social responsibility. The college also started a community newsletter six years ago to further improve communication.The Role Of An Art School In The Community
Collins says as she approaches retirement, she's been thinking a lot about what it means for an art college to be part of a larger community.
"In part, artists today draw on services and issues in the community to make art," she says. "This community is important to what we want students to be about. We want them to think and ask questions. We want to be known for pushing students to engage." On the other hand, Collins says, she believes KCAI has a lot to offer the community, including the Artspace, a comprehensive library, and a contribution to an increasingly rich visual and performing arts scene.
The KCAI Brush Creek Community Raingarden is a very visible example
of the Kansas City Art Institute's outreach and community service learning.
Brush Creek Community Partners worked with KCAI students in the Community Arts
and Service Learning's (CASL) Persuasive Ecology: Community as Client class
five years ago to help design a 150 foot bioswale, and secure resources for its development.
The Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commission approved planting the rain garden
in Theis Park overlooking Brush Creek at Oak Street in 2007.
KCAI continues in providing for the garden's maintenance.One side effect of Kansas City's growing arts community gives Collins pleasure. "More and more of our students are choosing to stay in Kansas City. They find it an exciting place to live and work," she says.
BCCP Has Helped Nurture Community Connections
While Collins was not a founding member of Brush Creek Partners, she's been an active and supportive member of the Brush Creek Community Partners' Board of Directors since the organization was very young. She credits BCCP for educating her by putting the
institution into perspective."It's important to understand the context you are in. Our context is Troost Avenue, which is in a sense a whole other population. The needs of people who live east of Troost and the neighborhoods are very different," she says. "Brush Creek Community Partners has allowed me to sit across the table from neighborhood people and created an environment conducive to interaction."
Whatever's Next, Community Will Be Involved
Collins admits she doesn't have a firm plan outlined for her "retirement" as she leaves KCAI. But she knows that her passion for community will play a role in her future. She plans to go back to photography. She says the only thing she knows for sure is that she will be doing something to contribute to people or communities.