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KC Charter Review, Sustainable Neighborhoods, Cheerleading Gym

Suzanne Hogan
/
KCUR

Citizen Group Reviews KC Government Charter

Kansas City is known as a “weak mayor” town. That’s no slight on Mayor Sly James, it’s the way the city charter sets up our government, where the mayor is a glorified city council member, and the city manager really runs the town. Since June, citizens in the Charter Review Commission has been meeting to make recommendations to revise the charter. Two major issues are the role of the mayor and the composition of the city council.  

The Remarkable Transformation Of One Neighborhood In KCK

In 2006, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation of Greater Kansas City (LISC) identified six neighborhoods in the Kansas City area to target for improvements. LISC is a national group that works with local organizations and communities; the Kansas City area initiative was called NeighborhoodsNOW. For the first time in its 33-year history of working in Kansas City, LISC announced that one of those neighborhoods has graduated. St. Peter/Waterway is sustaining redevelopment, and is a community where people want to live, work, play and raise families.

What Makes A Neighborhood Sustainable? 

St. Peter/Waterway is one of six communities targeted by Greater Kansas City LISC in 2006 as part of their NeighborhoodsNOW program. City planner and Vice-Chair of the Wyandotte County planning commission, Daniel Serda and Micah Kubic, Senior Program Officer of Greater Kansas City LISC joined us in studio to talk about what makes a neighborhood sustainable and how to go about developing one.

Cheerleading Gym Empowers African-American Girls

According to the National Cheerleading Association, more than 3 million Americans participate in the sport. But cheerleading is no longer just about pom-poms and whipping crowd spirit into a frenzy. It has evolved into a bona fide sport where many athletes train year-round. These athletes work on the strength, balance and gymnastic skills they need to stand out and win competitions. At the Nash Jem Elite All-Star Cheerleading gym in Grandview, teaching girl power and the sport of cheerleading go hand-in-hand. 

Kansas City Catholic Diocese Announces Increase In Abuse Reports

A new report from the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph shows an increase in reports of child sexual abuse and suspicious behavior toward children.  The report is the work of the diocese’s Office of Child and Youth Protection, which we profiled last month on KC Currents. Alex Smith is following up on that story. He reports that while the overall numbers of reports are up, confirmed cases of abuse appear to be down.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.
As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
Matthew Long-Middleton has been a talk-show producer, community producer, Media Training Manager and now the Community Engagement Manager at KCUR. You can reach him at Matthew@kcur.org, or on Twitter @MLMIndustries.
Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today. In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.
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