NAACP Kansas City, Missouri Branch

Membership Campaign Kick-off Dinner

Theme: “NAACP: 103 years of Power through Membership!”

Friday, April 13, 2012
6:30 PM

Swope Parkway United Christian Church
6140 Swope Parkway
Kansas City, Missouri 64130

Keynote Speaker – Pastor Rodney E. Williams

“NAACP STIMULUS PACKAGE”
$30.00 includes Dinner and One–Year Adult Membership
Door Prizes (must be present to win)

2012 Membership Campaign April 13 – June 19

Church Contest
Small 50 – 200 Members (Minimum Requirement 50 Memberships)
Medium 201- 400 Members (Minimum Requirement 100 Memberships)
Large 400 – Up Members (Minimum Requirement 150 Memberships)

Plaques will be presented to Churches with most memberships above minimum requirement at the Kansas City, MO Branch NAACP Freedom Fund Luncheon November 3, 2012.

JOIN THE NAACP!

For tickets and additional information, call the NAACP at 816-421-1191 or email naacpkcmo@sbcglobal.net

Sponsored by the Membership and Religious Affairs Committees:

Constance Shields, Membership Chair
Robert Lowe, Life Membership Chair
Rev. Thurmond Caldwell, Religious Affairs Chair

Anita L. Russell, Branch President

The candidates from left to right are Sam Mann, Curtis Rogers, H. Lon Swearingen, Candace Koba, Nia Webster, Duane Kelly, and Lyne’t C. Smith. Demonte Rochester arrived a little late and was seated on the far left.

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KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Press Advisory – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Volunteers sought to support dropout recovery program

KANSAS CITY, MO. – As part of its march toward re-accreditation, the Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) is seeking volunteers during its Spring Break (March 12-16, 2012) to assist with contacting and recovering students that have dropped out of school.

Volunteers will help the KCPS staff team in different ways, from calling departed students, to conducting home visits, to reviewing enrollment and transfer data from surrounding school districts. The program will operate from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, with flexible scheduling available. The base of operations will be the Board of Education building, 1211 McGee St., Kansas City, Mo.

The dropout recovery effort is essential to regaining accreditation because it helps KCPS identify where dropout students have surfaced, which in turn directly impacts the KCPS dropout rate. In Missouri, a student is considered a dropout for their original school district if it is undetermined where they have continued their education. KCPS has a significant number of students whose new education location is unknown.

For additional information, volunteers may contact Samuel Johnson at (816) 699-8604 or email sjohnso4@kcpublicschools.org.

The Kansas City Public Schools is dedicated to graduating students that are college, career, and workforce ready. This mission is supported by innovative classroom instruction, engaging programs, highly-qualified employees, and an engaged and well-informed community. To learn more about the ways our community of schools supports students and the community-at-large, please visit www.kcpublicschools.org, KCMO School District on Facebook, or KCMOSchools on Twitter.

 For more information please contact Eileen Houston-Stewart, Chief Communications and Community Engagement Officer, (816) 379-0385 or Andre Riley, Manager of Public Relations, (816) 442-9337.

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  On Wednesday, November 9, an informational forum will be hosted by the Parents’ District Advisory Council and the American Federation of Teachers. Parents, staff, community patrons and stakeholders will come together as a team to save our children’s right to receive a good education. The forum is scheduled from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Paseo Academy of the Arts, 4747 Flora, Kansas City, MO.

 The purpose of the forum is to address the existing unaccredited status of Kansas City Public Schools as it relates to student achievement and the roles and accountability of all concerned. The plan to be presented is better known as “Our Voice” and consists of three (3) steps to generate accountability through local control by parents, teachers, and the community electorate.

 A brief history of this dilemma includes how the Kansas City community deserted the KCMSD in 1969 when it refused to pass the School Levy tax increase. In 1985, a federal judge injected federal dollars into the system which at that time was his only alternative. A Desegregation Monitoring Team and integration followed in pursuit of so-called student achievement. In 1986, the community refused to pass a School Levy during three (3) elections, February 4, August 6, and November 4.

 Now, we stand at the crossroads to recoup our children from years of outside forces preventing teaching staffs to help children learn without being guinea pigs of the testing syndrome. We further are willing to protect our accountability to an elected school board and first-class Kansas City Public Schools that remain economically sound as this administration has a proven track record of a balanced budget and a plan to move forward with an agenda for its children.

Contacts: Andrea Flinders, (816) 756-1818, Fred Hudgins, (816) 337-2490

      Following a lively discussion on the probability of the elected board to be dismantled during its unaccredited status, the organization felt it should defend parents, community, and stakeholders from disenfranchisement of their voices and ability to advocate during decision-making processes by the board.

      Additionally, an elected board allows its citizens to retain public ownership of the educational system and further result in accountability of elected officials to their constituents.The democratic process for officials elected by one vote one person empowers the community to demand and take its rightful place in the education of children.

Contact:  Rosa James  (816) 923-2983

The NAACP is encouraged by the broad national support and by the great diversity of Americans who have been participating in the “Occupy Wall Street” campaign. The movement and the peaceful protesters who are a part of the campaign seem to share many of the same goals as the NAACP. “For over 102 years the NAACP has supported, and continues to support, policies which create, preserve and expand living wage jobs, increase economic opportunity and protect the desire of every American to build and retain wealth and equity,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP President and CEO. “And as such, NAACP units across the country are encouraged to work with local coalitions affiliated with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement to nonviolently advocate for policies which will improve economic conditions for all Americans consistent with NAACP priorities.” President Jealous went on to say that the largely peaceful protests are true to “the non-violent traditions and philosophies upon which the NAACP is based and has operated under for our entire existence.”

Specifically, NAACP policies support the “Occupy Wall Street” movement’s principles calling for:
• The creation and expansion of employment opportunities through job formation and support of small business development, support and growth;
• Job creation through government and private investments in infrastructure, school refurbishing projects, and the renovation and preservation of abandoned or foreclosed homes and properties;
• Decent, livable wages for all workers, including the right by employees to collectively bargain for adequate pensions, health care and other benefits;
• The fair opportunity for small and minority-owned businesses to obtain government contracts;
• The abolishment of predatory financial services, such as exploitative pay-day loans and unsustainable and discriminatory mortgage and lending products;
• Opposition to barriers to homeownership including exorbitant down-payments, predatory terms and continued housing segregation;
• Programs and policies which encourage wealth building and preservation, including housing counseling for Americans facing foreclosure, those wishing to purchase a home, renters and the homeless; and a strong government role in the secondary mortgage market which also serves to protect the interests of all homebuyers, encourages housing fairness and discourages discrimination.
NAACP membership units will continue to adhere to the coalition and engagement policies and procedures of the Association as we carefully evaluate the missions, goals, strategies and objectives of each “Occupy Wall Street” entity.
O. S

Director, NAACP Washington Bureau