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BCCP
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THE BRUSH CREEK BULLETIN Volume
9, Issue 4
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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 9, Issue 4
October/November/December 2007
GIVENS SUCCEEDS ARCHIE
AS BCCP PRESIDENTRob Givens, president and chief executive officer of Mazuma Credit Union, was elected the fourth president of Brush Creek Community Partners in November.
Givens succeeds the Rev. Stan Archie, president of Christian Fellowship Ministries and the Kansas City Leadership Foundation, who served three years as BCCP president.
Givens has led Mazuma Credit Union since August 2001. He joined the BCCP Board of Directors in November 2002 and was elected treasurer in 2003. He served the last two years as Vice President. He is Co-chair of BCCP’s Healthy Neighborhoods Task Force.
Archie, who is also a member of the Missouri Board of Education, has been involved with the partnership since it was founded in 1993 and has been on the BCCP board since its formation in November 1998. He remains on the board as Past President.
Board members Helen Bryant (left) and Margaret May (right)
thank Past President Stan Archie for his many years of service to BCCP.Also elected as officers for 2008 are:
Newly-elected to the BCCP Board of Directors are:
The officers and new board members join continuing members of the Board of Directors:
It is the mission of Brush Creek Community Partners “to provide leadership that unites institutions, businesses and citizens of all races and ethnicities in a belief that the Brush Creek Corridor is a community with opportunity and a sense of well-being.”
ENTREPRENEURIAL STREAK INFLUENCES
GIVENS’ CREDIT UNION AND BCCP LEADERSHIPRob Givens says he’s not a salesperson…all evidence to the contrary. The President of Mazuma Credit Union has worked in sales, mostly with credit unions, since leaving the Air Force early in his career. He is passionate about what credit unions do and the latitude they have to be able to do it. He has worked at seven credit unions, including Mazuma where he’s been now for six years and jokingly says, “It’s either I have lots of different ways to do things or I can’t hold a job!”
Be assured it’s not the latter. A personality profile Givens says he took at one time indicated he is more of an entrepreneur than corporate type. That entrepreneur bent is reflected in his work at Mazuma, where he has started three and invested in five other different “for profit” entities since he began there. Entrepreneurism is also one of the values he brings to Brush Creek Community Partners as its new President. Both Mazuma and BCCP have community interests at their cores. Both have philosophies rooted in member empowerment. And both keep Givens working at how to “make it happen.”
Rob GivensGivens grew up in St. Louis. He says he didn’t know much about Kansas City despite having family roots here. But his predecessor at Mazuma, who was stepping down to return to school for her Ph.D., introduced him around and one introduction she made was to Brush Creek Community Partners. She felt the organization was important to Mazuma and Givens agrees. The credit union joined BCCP in 1999 and Givens says it was already planning the branch at 4001 Blue Parkway. He says they thought it may not be profitable, but felt the need to serve the market. If there’s a moral to this story, it’s that the Blue Parkway branch is now the second busiest branch of the credit union.
There are a lot of Mazuma credit union members in the BCCP area, so Givens says they have the eye and heart for that part of town. “If Brush Creek Community Partners succeeds, it’s good for us and if we succeed, it’s good for BCCP,” says Givens.
Givens believes a major challenge for the continued success of BCCP is in getting new neighborhood leaders to step forward. He sees BCCP as conveners. He says the organization does not have enough resources to be doers and he has high regard for what its Executive Director and Board of Directors members have already accomplished given its resources.
Givens works with a volunteer board at Mazuma and believes what he can offer to the partnership is a good perspective on what strengths and supports are needed, as well as where to draw the line on commitments as it moves forward. The “salesman” Givens certainly comes out when he talks about BCCP’s value to Kansas City. Losing it, he says, would create a huge hole, quoting lyrics from an old Joni Mitchell song, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
BCCP recently completed an economic development analysis. Givens says the emphasis now is on looking at elements that will “attract” people to neighborhoods, things such as new bridges, parks, a tennis complex. He says attractive neighborhood elements will create the economic engine that will then pay back and lift up neighborhoods. But he says board members must stay actively engaged and neighborhood residents step forward to become leaders in order to make it happen. According to Givens, he and the partnership are there to encourage, support and empower those leaders.
PARTNER UPDATES
Marc Wilson, director and chief executive officer, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, will be honored early next year by the Missouri Arts Council as the recipient of its 2008 Arts Leadership Award. The Missouri Arts Award honors individuals and organizations that have made profound and lasting contributions to the cultural and artistic climate of the state. Under Wilson’s leadership, the museum has completed a $200 million expansion, extended its educational outreach and has made admission free.
Gail Hackett, Ph.D., has been named provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City effective February 15, 2008. Since 1988, Dr. Hackett has served in several roles at Arizona State University (ASU), most recently as vice provost and dean of University College, Office of the Executive Vice President & Provost. While at ASU, she also has served as Vice Provost for Academic Personnel, Associate Dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, and Director of the Division of Psychology in Education. Prior to Arizona State University, Dr. Hackett served on the faculty at The Ohio State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
To address the growing demand for expertise in laboratory services, Midwest Research Institute has launched its Center for Biological Safety and Security (CBS2) - a center staffed by an internationally recognized team of certified biosafety and security specialists who are dedicated to provide a diverse range of specialized laboratory consulting services from design, to operations, to management. Located in Frederick, Maryland, CBS2 will also reach more than 250 MRI biological scientists in Kansas City to provide added capacity to meet expanding customer needs including biodefense, agriculture, food safety, and vaccine development.The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (AUPD) and Center for Creative Studies and the Kansas City City Planning and Development Department have been recognized for excellence in shaping the quality communities across the state by the Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association. The City Planning and Development Department and Bucher Willis & Ratliff received the award for Outstanding Plan for the Line Creek Development Plan. UMKC’s AUPD and the center were recognized for Outstanding Project and Collaboration for “A City at the Crossroads.” This project involved student and faculty research in developing several innovative proposals that open up thinking about the historic Jazz District and its connection to the Crossroads and downtown Kansas City. A website documenting the planning process, charrette and plan is available: www.acityatthecrossroads.com.
Kansas City Power & Light’s parent company Great Plains Energy has won the Edicon Electric Institute’s Award. Great Plains was recognized for KCP&L’s comprehensive energy plan that was developed to meet the region’s power needs.The 16th season of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival will feature Othello as its summer 2008 production. The festival season will run for 18 performances over a three-week period from June 17 through July 6, 2008 in Southmoreland Park. Admission to the festival is free. Festival Producing Artistic Director, Sidonie Garrett will direct Shakespeare’s tragedy. “Othello has not been professionally produced in Kansas City in over 20 years,” stated Garrett, “ It’s one of Shakespeare’s “great tragedies” and we are eager to present it to the festival audience.”
Marble TournamentMuseum goes for the record. Just shy of the world record, the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City attracted just over 500 players to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Swinney Recreation Center for a Marble Tournament this fall. At least 570 players were needed. However, the day’s activities including demonstrations on marble making and marble shooting resulted in a record of more than 800 people visiting the museum that day.
Brush Creek Corridor site of mayoral agreement. The Rockhurst University campus was the site of what is believed to be the largest single-day signing of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in early November. The signing was part of a Sustainability and Climate Protection Conference that brought area mayors and invited citizen volunteers together for updates on regional and national trends related to sustainability and climate protection. Students from Rockhurst’s Voices for Justice organization wanted to host the Rockhurst conference as a way to encourage mayors from municipalities surrounding Kansas City to join in signing the agreement already endorsed by former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes and current Mayor Mark Funkhouser. BCCP members Rockhurst University and Kansas City Power and Light were among the sponsors for the event. As an outcome of the event, Mayor Funkhouser plans to convene the Mayors area mayors early in 2008 to explore climate protection strategies on a regional basis.
SCHOOLS SEEK STUDENTS, PARTNERS, MENTORS
Genesis School, an alternative charter school designed for inner city, middle school youth is recruiting students in grades 5 – 8 and mentors for these and other students. Beginning as a VISTA program in 1975, Genesis serves youth needing academic and social development to successfully return to traditional school.
As a charter school, Genesis School, located at 3800 E. 44th St., is a public school supported by public funds. Its strong focus on mentoring and program services makes it a successful alternative school with the capacity to change the lives of young people. Its services include counseling, a neighborhood mentoring program and the strategic reading program. Anyone interested in knowing more should call the Director of Community Outreach, the Rev. Keith Brown at 816-245-5107.
The Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts is eager to build its Community Arts Collaborative to connect its high school students to community resources and opportunities.
To prepare tomorrow’s scholar-artists, the public school at 4747 Flora recently asked leaders in Kansas City’s artistic community to help it deepen its Artists in Residence Program. Examples presented included the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance contribution to Composers in the School, providing on-site assistance to music teachers. The conservatory also offers Musical Bridges that links educational support provided by UMKC to students at Paseo. Master classes, externships or summer arts jobs for the academy’s faculty, and job shadowing and career preparation experiences for the students were among the types of opportunities the school is seeking with other organizations.
The Paseo Academy returned to a pure arts theme two years ago. For more information contact Arts Program Administrator Dennis Walker at 816-418-2346.
STOWERS INSTITUTE OPENS
COMMERCIAL ARMThe Stowers Institute for Medical Research has opened BioMed Valley Discoveries Inc., charged with fostering the commercialization of life science discoveries.
The for-profit arm of the Stowers Institute will develop research outcomes into new cures, research tools and possibly start-up companies. BioMed Valley Discoveries is headed by David Chao, formerly with Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research.
The creation of BioMed Valley was announced by Stowers Institute Co-founder James Stowers, Jr. in 2002 as a means to patent, develop and market scientific discoveries made by the institute and other partners. The infrastructure to effectively commercialize these finding is considered critical to the overall success of the Kansas City area’s life sciences emphasis.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
UMKC breaks ground for new growth. Successful fundraising prompted the University of Missouri-Kansas City to conduct a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Miller Nichols Library and Interactive Learning Center (depicted above) this fall. When completed the center will enable UMKC to accommodate a 20 percent increase in enrollment with approximately 170,000 renovated square feet and 65,000 new square feet of classroom and learning space.
New homes in established neighborhood. New single-family homes in the Blue Hills Neighborhood have been completed by the Blue Hills Community Services Corporation. The home shown above is among the five located on the 4900 block of Olive Street. With purchase prices ranging from $142,000 to $148,000, qualified individuals and families may be assisted with a $20,000 homebuyer down payment assistance reservation through the City of Kansas City’s KC Dream Program. The Olive Street Homes are expected to be available through the spring homebuyers market.