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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume 7, Issue 1 January/February 2005   KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION/URBAN LEAGUE PARTNER ON MINORITY ENTREPRENEUR DEVELOPMENT Kansas City to be One of Five Pilot Cities The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the National Urban League, and the Business Roundtable, President Bush’s National Economic Council Director and other administration officials have launched a groundbreaking national partnership to encourage minority entrepreneurship and business development nationwide. Kansas City will be one of five pilot communities for the Urban Partnership Program. The program will combine private, public and non-profit sector resources to expand entrepreneurship and jobs in historically neglected and economically underserved urban areas. The initiative calls for the development of one-stop economic empowerment centers to provide business training, counseling, financing, and procurement opportunities to minority and urban business owners. “Small businesses are the largest creators of new jobs in America and the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership will help more minority owned businesses find the technical assistance, financial investment and corporate relationships they need to grow, develop, and create more jobs in the urban areas that need it most,” said Marc Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League and chairman of the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership. “Growing small and medium-sized minority owned businesses is one of the best ways to close the wealth gap in America and provide real economic empowerment to our communities.” The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership mobilizes resources of corporate America, major service organizations, the non-profit sector, and federal, state and city governments. In addition to Kansas City, the collaboration will initially include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Jacksonville – with a goal of having the business centers operational early this year. The partners have set an ambitious goal of establishing up to 15 one-stop centers in communities nationwide by the end of 2006. The National Urban League’s professionally-staffed local affiliates will house and administer the economic empowerment centers to address the spectrum of needs from basic financial literacy to management counseling—by offering business training, enterprise mentoring and coaching, and access to private sector contacts, procurement, and debt and equity financing nationwide. The Kansas City center will be operated by the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Business Roundtable will provide expert guidance, impress private sector standards and create partnership between large firms and urban entrepreneurs, including mentoring and identification of corporate contacts and private sector contracting opportunities at the centers. The federal government will facilitate the establishment of centers and assist their operations in all aspects through the expertise and programs of the Minority Business Development Agency, the Small Business Administration, and others. The foundation will also draw on its extensive experience in entrepreneurship to guide and monitor the work of the initiative by providing: full funding for the Kansas City economic empowerment center; a capacity-building grant to the National Urban League for development of a national coaching model; and on-site resources and technical assistance to all five centers. “Our research indicates that minorities, and blacks in particular, are about 50 percent more likely to engage in start-up activities than whites,” said Kauffman Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Schramm. “Yet statistics for business formation reveal that minorities are not as successful in getting their businesses off the ground or in growing them to scale. The Kauffman Foundation is thrilled to join our partners in working to close this gap and empower more minorities to reach their full entrepreneurial potential.” The Kauffman Foundation is a founding member of Brush Creek Community Partners. Paul Schofer, its vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, is a member of the BCCP Board of Directors. LINDA HALL LIBRARY EMBARKS ON MAJOR EXPANSION The largest independent library of its type in the world is about to get bigger. With a groundbreaking anticipated this spring, the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology is undertaking an $18.5 million, 30,000 square foot expansion. The addition of 10,000 square feet to each level of the three-story building at 5109 Cherry Street is expected to provide for the library’s growth for 50 years. Opened to the public in 1946, the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology plans an $18.5 million expansion (inset) that will increase the library's space to a total of 220,000 square feet. The Linda Hall Library is the world’s largest public library specializing in science, engineering and technology. New space will be devoted to stacks to accommodate the library’s collection that is growing by 7.5 feet a day. An expanded rare book and special collection area will be moved to the first floor of the library’s annex, enhancing its accessibility. By also moving the library’s document services area, space on the main floor will be opened up for special exhibits. The library was established in 1946 by a $7.5 million gift of Herbert and Linda Hall. It is situated on 14 acres of grounds that are maintained as an urban arboretum. In 2003, the library provided services to people in more than 70 countries. Document Services processed nearly 83,000 requests, more than 80 percent of which were completed electronically. That same year, more than 20,000 people visited the library. The Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology is a founding member of Brush Creek Community Partners and C. Lee Jones, its president, is a member of the BCCP Board of Directors.   PARTNER UPDATES University of Missouri System President Elson Floyd will act as Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Kansas City until a new Chancellor is installed later this year. Floyd has appointed a search committee to seek a replacement for Martha Gilliland, who resigned at the end of last year after four and a half years with UMKC. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Jan Kreamer plans to retire effective December 31, 2005. Laura McKnight, the community foundation’s current senior vice president of development will assume the role of president and CEO January 1, 2006. McKnight also holds leadership responsibilities with the Community Foundation of Johnson County as well as community foundation affiliates in Kansas and Missouri. When Kreamer became president in 1986, the community foundation was managing $12 million in assets. Today, the organization manages more than $945 million in assets and has helped people and organizations set up and manage what now totals more than 1,500 charitable accounts benefiting more than 2,500 area nonprofits. Swope Community Builders (SCB) and its Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Gatson, have been recognized for their leadership in community development by the Kansas City Community Development Initiative (KCCDI). SCB, a member of Swope Community Enterprises, and Gatson were among four individuals and groups honored at KCCDI’s 2004 Jake Mascotte Awards for Excellence in Community Development event. Much of the work for which they were recognized has been accomplished along the Brush Creek Corridor. H&R Block Founder Henry Bloch has received the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee’s Human Relations Award, and has also been honored with the tribute being permanently renamed the Henry W. Bloch Human Relations Award. The award is given annually to a community leader who exemplifies and is dedicated to promoting justice and tolerance. Fr. Norman Rotert, pastor of Visitation Church, has been honored as the American Citizen by the Southtown Council for his lifetime of service to Kansas City. A diocesan priest since 1957, Rotert’s leadership in community organizing and grassroots development led to the formation of the Kansas City Organization Project, now known as Church Community Organization, and the founding of the Blue Hills Homes Association, now the Blue Hills Community Service Corporation. As Pastor of Visitation, he recently oversaw the renovation and expansion of the landmark church at 52nd and Main Streets. Rockhurst University has begun raising money for a permanent recreational and wellness complex that will link Massman Hall, the Fieldhouse and the Convocation Center. The $15 million project will complete the campus master plan adopted by the university in the early nineties. The Kansas City Art Institute has received a $5 million donation from American Sterling Bank founder and Chief Executive Officer Larry Dodge and his wife Kristina. The gift is one of the largest single contributions in KCAI’s history, and will provide momentum toward fulfillment of the art institute’s campus master plan, which calls for the addition of a new painting building as well as extensive landscaping of the 15-acre campus. The first step in executing KCAI’s landscaping plans occurred last fall with the dedication of the J.C. Nichols Patio Garden, built in honor of the late Miller Nichols and his father the late J.C. Nichols. The Women’s Cardiac Center at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute is the recipient of a $3 million donation by Kansas City philanthropist Julia Irene Kauffman. The center will be renamed the Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center, after Kauffman’s mother, philanthropist Muriel McBrien Kauffman. Funds are expected to be used to support patient care, community education and outreach programs, and medical research conducted by the center. The donation is the largest single cash contribution to the hospital in the history of Saint Luke’s Hospital Foundation. The gift comes from the Julia Irene Kauffman donor-advised fund, which was created with proceeds from the sale of the Kansas City Royals baseball team. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City has announced two challenge grants totaling $1.8 million have been awarded to the organization. The Kresge Foundation and the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation grants are part of the Boys & Girls Clubs $16.3 million capital campaign, of which over $12 million has already been raised. Boys & Girls Club President Dave Smith recently received the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award from the Heart of America Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Ellen Suni has been named Dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Since joining the UMKC faculty in 1980, Dean Suni has served the school in several capacities, including Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Student Services. She currently holds the honor of Marvin Lewis Rich Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law. Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute was one of 150 medical centers participating in a landmark study featured in the January 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found s that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) implanted beneath the skin in the upper chest reduce death by 23 percent in people with heart failure whose hearts don’t pump blood efficiently. The findings from the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial suggest that approximately 600,000 Americans with this heart condition could be at risk for sudden cardiac arrest and should be protected by an ICD. Three new independent laboratory leaders are joining the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, bringing to the institute a total of 17 independent research programs in cell and molecular biology complemented by three technology centers. The work of the new researchers will focus on: the mechanism and regulation of a common correlate of birth defects and cancer; how information is acquired via learning and stored over time as memories in the brain with special attention to the role of synapses in memory; and the investigation of how olfactory sensory information is detected, integrated, and processed in the brain to influence specific innate behaviors. The Kauffman Foundation has issued its inaugural edition of "Ideas at Work," a regular e-newsletter that aims to spread the word about key Kauffman initiatives to spur entrepreneurship and youth development in Kansas City and around the globe. The first issue includes news about the foundation's $9 million Kauffman Legacy Fund, which is comprised of grants to key programs and initiatives in the region. More information is available at http://www.kauffman.org/ideasatwork/vol1no1.htm. David Welte recently received a Commissioner’s Award from the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commission for his service to the community with his leadership as president of Brush Creek Community Partners from 2001-2004. In accepting the award, Welte discussed the productive public/private partnership that is realized in the commission’s and Parks and Recreation Department’s relationship with BCCP. Welte, a member of the BCCP Board of Directors since 1998, is general counsel and assistant secretary of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and shareholder in the law firm of Polsinelli Shalton Welte & Suelthaus. With him at the podium are Parks Commissioners Bill Washington (left) and Tim Kristl who is also a member of the BCCP board of Directors. (Photo courtesy Kansas City Parks and Recreation, Special Projects/Events, Eddie Penrice, photographer.) ...AND THE REST IS HISTORY H&R Block, the largest tax services provider in the United States and the sixth largest retailer in the world celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Henry and Richard Bloch first advertised their tax preparation service with this ad in The Kansas City Star newspaper in January 1955. The day the ad ran, the brothers’ office was swamped with people looking for help with their tax returns. The World Headquarters of H & R Block is located at 4400 Main Street with the company opening the H & R Block Service Center at 4400 Blue Parkway in 1999. PARKS DEPARTMENT RECOGNIZED FOR BRUSH CREEK ACCOMPLISHMENTS The Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department recently received a Cornerstone Award for the redevelopment of the Brush Creek Corridor from the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDC). In making the special recognition, the EDC observed that after the 1977 flood, which caused the deaths of 25 people along Brush Creek and property damage exceeding $66 million, city officials decided to proceed with a flood control project that was also an urban amenity and an asset. More than $159 million in public capital infrastructure improvements have been made in the Brush Creek Corridor with another $62 million in improvements either under construction or in the planning stages. The public improvements are part of the total $1.5 billion public and private investment that has been made along Brush Creek since the flood control and beautification project began in 1991. WYNN PRESSON LEARNED, AND IS LIVING, TO GIVE BACK In the 1960s, well-known leaders shaped the directions of many peoples’ lives. In 1962, someone lesser- known shaped Wynn Presson’s life. “The summer of my junior year in college was spent in an internship at Methodist Hospital of Dallas,” Presson remembers. “There I met my mentor who encouraged me, and many others, to be in situations where I could be involved, have influence and give back to the community.” Presson took the advice to heart and has served in health care administrative roles and on nonprofit boards ever since. In fact, the single-spaced list of current and past civic and professional activities on his vitae takes up a page and a half. His giving back has served several area institutions of higher education to the local zoo, economic development to arts and humanities, bioethics to college athletics, victims of heart disease, kidney failure and breast cancer and numerous other health care causes. Wynn Presson Today, as the Senior Vice President for Corporate Planning and Business Development, Presson has the perspective of Swope Community Enterprises in mind during his work in the community. Of course he also keeps in mind the children, patients, businesses and citizens he serves through the various boards on which he sits chairs. And Presson offers a historical perspective. He’s lived and worked in Kansas City since 1977 and was one of the founding partners of Brush Creek Partners, representing Health Midwest, from 1993 to 1997. Presson recalls the early leadership of then University of Missouri-Kansas City Chancellor Eleanor Schwartz and Rockhurst College President Fr. Tom Savage. “We didn’t have a real vision (for Brush Creek) in place, but we knew we had common interests. We discussed the importance of a common vision, of what the Corridor could be, but at that time lacked significant and coordinating leadership and direction.” He adds, “there was commitment to bring that community together to enhance the total image of Brush Creek, and we all wanted to be a part of bringing the best future together that we could.” And, Presson said, “I wanted to help pool the thinking and strategic resources to work toward a common good, instead of possibly working against one of our neighbors.” During these early critical years, chief executive officers of the partner organizations made up the Brush Creek Partners Steering Committee and later the Brush Creek Community Partners’ board, but through the years Presson noted the introduction of other representatives in the organizations who have immediate access to their CEOs. “Another major shift in Brush Creek Partners is the strategic planning and development oversight that it is giving to all projects along the Corridor.” But there are more obvious changes, he noted. “The Stowers Institute, bridges, other improvements — Brush Creek Community Partners helped many of these things to happen.” According to Presson, Stowers has tremendous vision that over the next 20 years could have a significant impact on the Corridor. Also, Swope Community Enterprises’ development arm Swope Community Builders hopes to keep moving west and revitalizing properties from Elmwood all the way to the Bruce Watkins Parkway. And Presson may just keep moving right along with it. With his wide-ranging experiences and valuable perspectives, Presson strives to be to be “a significant resource, to fill a role in the community.” Presson’s mentor, who was in his 90s when he recently passed away, must have been assured his pupil has been involved, has had some influence and has given back much to his community.