Research groups establish Kansas City children's campus
By Karen Henry
Two Kansas City-based KU research groups are behind an ambitious plan to build a Children's Campus in urban Kansas City, Kan.
Charles Greenwood
Martha Staker
Charles Greenwood, director of the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, and Martha Staker, director of Project EAGLE, both longstanding research-based community programs, have led the private-public effort to build the $15 million Children's Campus of Kansas City where agencies will be co-located and work collaboratively.
Along with their counterparts from the Family Conservancy and several other agencies, Greenwood and Staker envision the Children's Campus as a way to create a kind of critical mass of expertise and economy of scale in addressing the comprehensive needs of the community.
For years, the Kansas City agencies have been frustrated by their inability to provide coordinated support efficiently to children and their families.
Some agencies have long waiting lists while others operate below capacity and families often get sporadic and disconnected services. "It is fiscally unwise and inefficient to continue to try to address the problems of low-income families and children in an uncoordinated way," Greenwood said.
While the campus focuses on the 4,000 children and their families in its immediate community, the research generated from the new collaborative model could influence policy, practice and even new technology, Greenwood said.
A recent example is the development of LENA, a product that seeks to increase vocabulary growth in children based on an earlier JGCP study. (see article on page 7).
Located near Juniper Gardens at State and Minnesota avenues and Third and Fifth streets, the campus will be anchored by a three-story building that will house a model infant/toddler program (Project EAGLE); dental, mental-health care and health care services and family support (the Family Conservancy) and research, (the Juniper Gardens Children's Project) serving 250 children a year initially.
Substantial support to date has come from many sources, including the Susan A. Buffet Foundation, Hall Family Foundation, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Ewing Kauffman Foundation, Dunn Family Foundation, Kansas City Kansas School District and DST Systems, among others. Individual families from the community have contributed $12,000 so far. Bank Midwest and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County have donated land. Chancellor Robert Hemenway has pledged $50,000.
An $8 million capital campaign is in progress and has reached the halfway mark. Construction is expected to begin this spring. For more information, visit www.childrenscampusofwyco.org/index.asp.
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