Foundation Journal

Organizers with Empower Missouri, formerly the Missouri Association of Social Welfare, and Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri will hold a public forum titled "There’s No Plate Like Home: Health, Food &Power." The event will be Monday February 23, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 100 in the Inman E. Page library at Lincoln University, 712 Lee Drive, Jefferson City, Missouri. Here are details of the event from the organizers: This public forum will examine the connections among health, food, farming, and public policy with an aim to promoting local, sustainably-grown food, healthy food choices and availability, and the public policies surrounding these concerns. We will look at: the programs and projects that promote healthy, locally-grown food, its access, and its producers and growers in communities throughout Missouri.  how public policies and the actions of corporations affect our access to locally-grown, healthy food, and the sustainability of a

This message is directed to friends, encouraging you to make a financial donation to KKFI 90.1 FM community radio, one of my favorite KC organizations. I currently serve on the board of directors of KKFI. KKFI is a community radio station serving listeners in a 65-mile area around Kansas City. It's run by volunteers who have devoted themselves to bringing you the best music, arts, cultural, and public affairs radio programming. In a phrase, KKFI radio hosts bring voices and stories about Kansas City and our world to the airwaves that you won’t hear anywhere else. The music aired is local and vibrant in genres you rarely hear anywhere else on the radio dial -- reggae, bluegrass, hip-hop, folk, blues, and jazz. The public affairs shows focus on local and national issues with a progressive bent, and the news shows cover topics -- climate change, war and conflict, race, gender, poverty -- from a different angle.  Most importantly, the radio station airs hopeful stories from

An NPR news report on the impact on Kansas hospitals because of failed efforts to expand Medicaid aired this week. The report shares how "Governor Sam Brownback and Republican legislative leaders have shown no interest in expanding Medicaid," while documenting the loss of federal funds and hospitals' case to press Kansas legislators to pick up the Obamacare subsidies. Missing from the report is an update on the impact on the lives of people eligible for health services in Kansas.

Evie Craig, Exective Director with reStart in Kansas City, needs volunteers for the annual homeless persons count. Can you help? If you want to support efforts by reStart and other organizations to improve and increase services for people who are homeless, then sign up to participate in the annual point-in-time count held January 28-29, 2015. Training will be provided on January 20, 21 and 25. (Read a report on last year's count of homeless people.) Despite encouraging news about an improving U.S. economy, which may reduce homelessness, wages for low-income and unskilled workers have not improved. Low wages still creates the conditions for homelessness in Kansas City, which is why there is a need for housing and services for people who are homeless. And it's a good thing that organizations like Catholic Charities have put resources together to help homeless people, like the 2014 opening of St. Michael's Veteran Center near the VA hospital on Cleaver II Blvd in Kan

You can help break the ‪ "digital divide" in ‪Kansas City‬ by joining a Digital Inclusion Town Hall this Friday, January 16 with local organizers from KC Digital Drive, Connecting for Good and the Kansas City Public Library. You'll need to register for the event . Friday, January 16, 2015 9:00am @ Central Library Continental breakfast provided Organizers of the 2014 Kansas City Digital Inclusion Summit — a first-of-its-kind event addressing troublesome gaps in residents’ access to computers and the Internet — return three months after that daylong gathering to deliver their official report. The October summit examined trends, discussed challenges and opportunities, spotlighted current inclusion efforts, and shared best practices. Since then civic leaders and other individuals and organizations have been exploring ways to bridge Kansas City's digital divide by providing better Internet access and quality tech education. The town hall meeting also features an announ

As a followup to a post from last year on ways Missouri legislators and government officials drive low-income workers into poverty, I have collected another set of roadblocks unfairly placed on poor people. The list this time includes corporations that have developed products and services that target low-income or vulnerable populations. 1. Block Medicaid Expansion. FamiliesUSA infographic (click for full size view) Missouri legislators get the prize for going the extra mile on this. Even strongly Republican-led states like Indiana , Tennessee , Utah and Wyoming  are either considering expanding or have decided to expand Medicaid, a state-administered health program supporting very low-income workers and their families. Wyoming's plan to expand Medicaid will provide 17,600 people with access to health care, plus provide 800 jobs. States like Wyoming are realizing that expanding Medicaid relieves hospitals from uncompensated costs. “I will do everything I can to prevent

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report on cuts to SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) today: A CBPP report out today explains why roughly 1 million of the nation's poorest people will be cut off of SNAP (formerly food stamps), in 2016. This is because in many areas waivers of the three-month limits on SNAP benefits for unemployed adults ages 18-50 who aren't disabled or raising minor children are ending. These individuals will lose their food assistance benefits after three months regardless of how hard they are looking for work. In the past few years, the three-month limit hasn't been in effect in most states. The 1996 welfare law allows states to suspend the three-month limit in areas with high and sustained unemployment; many states qualified due to the Great Recession and its aftermath and waived the time limit throughout the state. But as unemployment rates fall, fewer and fewer areas will qualify for waivers. The l