Foundation Journal

Small nonprofits struggle with maintaining their programs and services on a number of levels, and sometimes the seemingly huge problems, like a broken furnace, remind workers and staff that some problems are easy to solve. The Kansas City Indian Center , until recently named the Heart of America Indian Center, is no different. The organization delivers important social services to clients, yet holds a vision to expand its reach into the Native American community. On Friday, January 14, 2011, while completing a service project supported by Harvesters food bank in Kansas City, I arrived to learn that their furnace had been replaced after a worker discovered high levels of carbon monoxide. The center was back in stride, not only after a furnace replacement, but also after recent staff turnover. New executive director Steve Jackson took time out of his schedule to describe changes needed to the phone and voice mail systems. The organization recently hired Gayl Edmunds, a new counselor w...

I was glad to see KKFI 90.1 FM community radio and Heart of America Indian Center will trade support for the upcoming Powwow to celebrate American Indian heritage on May 15-16 at Line Creek  in exchange for radio spots. I see KKFI and HAIC as sister organizations.

"The truth is not inconvenient -- it is deadly" Dr. Wildcat speaks to a group at the Plaza library on April 21, 2010. Dr. Daniel Wildcat spoke to an audience of 130 people in the Truman room at the Plaza library April 21, reading at length from his book " Red Alert!: Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge ." He commented on a range of topics from climate change, to the contradictions of development and "progress," and how Native Americans are especially equipped to provide advice on changing course on solving the crisis. "The status quo is not good enough," he emphasized, suggesting at several points that the book is not a romanticized report on Indigenous experience and traditions, but challenged people to "start in your backyard" in observing and acting on the climate crisis. Some of us have so well-insulated ourselves from the inconvenient and uncomfortable features of the natural world, we fail to see that in the proce...