Vickie Riddle is the executive director of the Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City (HSCGKC). Ms. Riddle attended the 2012 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference held May 23-25 in Kansas City, Mo. The following is her experience. In my 25 years of working in the social work field, I have encountered programs […]

This past Saturday as I looked for the least expensive gasoline, my daughter questioned why I was looking to saving a few cents on gas. Her question was “does a few pennies matter?”, as she handed me handful of pennies. The cost of energy is a concern to many. With the relatively mild winter, families […]

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office in Washington, DC recently released a report that gives evidence that not only are the rich are getting richer, but the gap between the very rich and the rest of us is expanding more now than any time in our history. The upper 1% of the population saw its income […]

Last week, I saw the documentary “The Interrupters” at the Tivoli Cinema. It was one of the most thought provoking movies I have seen in my life. The movie is about an evidence based violence prevention program in Chicago called CeaseFire. Throughout this moving story, my mind would wander to the similar concerns we have […]

Note: Dr. Jones has also worked as a professor in the Schools of Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and UMKC. With all the talk about the historic bill to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, signed into law by President Obama last year, nowhere is this talk more important when considering the health of our […]

Drug testing of welfare recipients was recently signed into law by Missouri Governor Nixon. While no one wants tax payer money being spent on purchasing illegal drugs, it is very disheartening to focus this kind enforcement on just the poor. What about legislators, farmers, state workers, doctors, hospitals, nurses, teachers, social workers, and businesses who […]

In my daily life I experience and live in two worlds – one that is full of opportunity and hope and one that is full of despair and frustration. One that is challenging and invigorates both the mind and spirit and one that is overwhelming full of angst and hopelessness. Some days this dichotomy hits […]

It has always amazed me that people of faith sometimes use their religion to explain why they can discriminate against others, kill others, and exclude others. Religion is now being used by some to determine who you can vote for and some religions define specific issues that determine whether you can continue to practice as […]

The Holidays are over and it is time to get back to work. My house was full of family, laughter, and good food for virtually every day between Christmas and New Year. Like most of you who live in the Kansas City area, I spent some part of each day shoveling snow. I was able […]

The Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission, through the Second Chance Program, has created a metro wide strategy to respond to prisoner reentry, reducing recidivism and increasing public safety, through research, advocacy and funding programs. They have developed the Kansas City Metropolitan Reentry Coalition which responds to issues that impact people returning to community from incarceration. […]