News & Issues

Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.

A Black mother with short hair and a white blouse crosses her arms around her 17-year old son who has autism. Michelle Mitchell worries about the small things in life, like sending Gerald to a bus stop. The bigger things, like career, are even more dizzying. (Dominick Williams | Flatland)

Confronting the ‘High School Cliff’: What Young Adults with Disabilities Need to Succeed

By Vicky Diaz-Camacho, Cody Boston, Graciela Becerra | April 20, 2023

Four years ago, a Kansas City mom created a program for young adults with disabilities like her son. Today, that program has become a resource for people facing the “high school cliff.”

A group of students at the University of Kansas demonstrate for civil rights in 1965. Image courtesy of Dole Archives at the University of Kansas.

Disability Rights History: A Self-Guided Tour

By Vicky Diaz-Camacho | April 19, 2023

Here’s a self-guided tour to help put disability rights and law history into context.

Funmi Popoola, President and CEO of Goodwill of Western Missouri & Eastern Kansas, leans against carts filled with donations.

Nonprofits Adapt to the Changing Shape of Charity

By Mary Sanchez | April 19, 2023

There are worrisome trends in American philanthropy, as fewer people give nonprofits become evermore reliant on the generosity of the wealthy.

UMKC Considers Arena as Part of Streetcar Stop Redevelopment

By Kevin Collison | April 18, 2023

By Kevin Collison UMKC may build a small arena for events, concerts and athletics as part of a redevelopment project it’s planning near the south terminus of the streetcar extension. The proposal was mentioned in a State of the University speech given by Chancellor Mauli Agawal Monday. “We have real proof of what we are…