$15.5 million Children's Campus of Kansas City/Educare of Kansas City opens June 7

$15.5 million Children's Campus of Kansas City/Educare of Kansas City opens
June 7 to provide comprehensive child and family services

The Children’s Campus of Kansas City (CCKC ) and the Educare of Kansas City held its grand opening on June 8 attended by some 400 community members, well-wishers and representatives from public and private supporters.

The $15.5 million, three-story, 72,000-square-foot building at 444 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kan, will serve as a new collaborative national model for education, service and research and house three longstanding programs: Juniper Gardens Children’s Project of the University of Kansas, Project EAGLE Community Programs of the KU Medical Center and the Family Conservancy.

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The new Children's Campus formally opened its doors on June 8 after years of planning and great anticipation.
The $15.5 million three-story building houses several education, service and research programs that will target at-risk children birth to five years of age.
At the formal opening, CEO Martha Staker harkened back to a vision outlined in the Kansas City Star for the metropolitan area that included a comprehensive center to serve children.
Charles Greenwood (in dark jacket), executive director of Juniper Garden's Children's Project, with (to his right) Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center.
Charles Greenwood describes how collaborating with other programs at the Children's Campus will enable Juniper Gardens to expand its research efforts and influence policy and practice.
Financed by a rare public-private partnership, the Children's Campus came to fruition through the efforts of individual donors, numerous charitable organizations, and publicly funded programs.
Congressman Dennis Moore (3rd District-Kansas) was among the dignitaries who toured the Children's Campus, which is expected to serve more than 1,000 children and families annually.
Juniper Gardens, one of 13 centers of KU's Life Span Institute, is located on the third floor and is now home to nearly 75 investigators, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and staff.
Dale Walker (left), associate research professor at Juniper Gardens, visits with R. Vance Hall, the first director of Juniper Gardens, which was established in 1964 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty."
Barbara Terry (right), assistant research professor at Juniper Gardens, visits with Virginia and Eric Kirwood. Eric is the former president of the Uriel Owens Chapter of the Sickle Cell Association, whose office is included in the new Juniper Gardens suite.
Debra Kamps (center, in blue jacket), associate director and senior scientist, visits with Scott McConnell from the University of Minnesota, and Judith Carta, also a senior scientist at Juniper Gardens. At left is KU doctoral student Todd Miller, shown discussing data from a current project on autism.
Ann Whaley, a graduate research assistant and doctoral student in Applied Behavioral Analysis, presents results of a research project that is studying the effect of cell phones to improve parenting skills among at-risk mothers.
The new Children's Campus of Kansas City is a dream come true for not only its planners and the community at large, but for the countless children it will serve for years to come.

Services offered on the campus include early childhood education, family support, health, oral health and mental health services for young children and their families in Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County. The CCKC will also be a major regional research and training center.

The CCKC will support the educational success, health and wellbeing of more than 1,000 children and families annually in Kansas City, Kan.

Under the leadership of Martha Staker, CEO, the Children’s Campus of Kansas City Inc. was incorporated in 2004 to close the gap between research and practice to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged children.
The mission of the Children’s Campus is to assure that children birth to 5 years of age who are most at risk for academic failure and their families have seamless and integrated access to the public-private resources they need to succeed.

Research shows that investments in the early years have high rates of return and interventions at later ages in the life cycle have low economic returns. People who participate in enriched early childhood programs are more likely to complete school and much less likely to require welfare benefits, become teen parents or participate in criminal activities.

On the first floor of the building, Project EAGLE Community Programs will manage the Educare of Kansas City center, which is part of the Bounce Leaning Network. The Bounce Learning Network, established by the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and Ounce of Prevention Fund with local public-private partners, consists of 11 partnerships in Chicago; Omaha; Milwaukee; Tulsa; Denver; Oklahoma City; Miami; Seattle; West DuPage, Ill.; Waterville, Maine; and Kansas City, Kan.
There are 12 Educare classrooms.

Additionally, Project EAGLE directs the community’s Early Head Start program, Healthy Start Program, Healthy Families Program and Connections Centralized Intake and Referral System. More than 1,000 children and their families will receive services annually from Project EAGLE. Research and evaluation are part of each of these programs.

Also on the first floor is a 1,000-square-foot health clinic with three accessible examining rooms that will be staffed by clinicians of the KU Medical Center in partnership with the Public Health Department of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kan., and safety-net clinics.

The Family Conservancy will occupy the second floor of the building and will provide mental health services, parenting education, crisis intervention, assistance to overcome poverty and professional development services. They will serve 1,200 parents and 1,500 early education professionals annually.

The Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, one of the 13 centers of KU’s Life Span Institute, will be located on the third floor of the building. Juniper Gardens will improve children’s developmental experiences and their academic and social achievements through research. Although the campus focuses on children and their families in its immediate community, the research generated from the new collaborative model will influence policy and practice.

Substantial monetary, in-kind and moral support has come from many community sources. Major donors include the Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Charitable Fund; J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation; Local Initiatives Support Corp.; Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas; Buffett Early Childhood Fund Broadway Square Partners; Hall Family Foundation; JE Dunn Construction; Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; George Kaiser Family Foundation; Lafarge; and William T. Kemper Foundation.
Individual families from the community have contributed $12,000. Dickinson Financial Corp. donated the land. Former KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway donated $50,000 on behalf of the University of Kansas.

The speakers at the program were:

Martha Staker, president and CEO of the Children’s Campus of Kansas City and executive director of Project EAGLE, a division of the Department of Pediatrics, KU Medical Center; Mayor Joe Reardon, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kan.; Dan Pedersen and Harriet Meyer, the Bounce Network of Educare Centers; Bill Dunn Sr., JE Dunn Construction; Mary Cohen, Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Charitable Trust; Timmasha Clanton, Project EAGLE policy council president; Dr. Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor of the KU Medical Center; Betsy Vander Velde, president and CEO of the Family Conservancy; and Charles Greenwood, executive director of Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, senior scientist and professor, KU’s Life Span Institute

 

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