Stories in Power by healthforward

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Stories

Ella El Sol

Justicia

El Molcajete

Fortaleza

La Vida

La Comunidad

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As part of its strategic plan, Health Forward Foundation has an explicit focus on building community power.

The first step in that work was learning more about what power is and how it is facilitated or hindered for our communities of focus — specifically those affected by systemic racism and those in rural communities. We did not want to make assumptions about components of power, but instead wanted to learn from community residents and use their views and experiences to inform strategies moving forward. There were individuals involved with a range of experiences, including those currently experiencing homelessness, multiple groups from the recovery community, people of different age, race and ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic level, and across geographical communities. We partnered with Ad Astra Community Innovations Group, a local women-and minority-owned consulting firm, to support the process for gathering community voice and facilitating community engagement activities. The Stories in Power project began in February of 2022 with a meeting of the community advisory team, a group of individuals representing Health Forward’s communities of focus who met monthly and informed and influenced all aspects of the project including what we should ask, who we should ask, how we should ask and what it meant. Data were collected in three main ways: Listening Circles, a community survey, and Paint and S.I.P. events — guided sessions that merged creative exploration and cultural storytelling. This book shares some findings from the project.

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“We don’t want to define power in a vacuum.We don’t want to say this is power. This is how we’re doing it. We want to learn and hear from the community. In terms of various definitions of power, and how that is used or how that might be lacking in certain communities.” HEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION STAFF

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Community Power The excerpts from this storybook are based on guided conversations and sessions with community members from Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and Kansas City, MO, Cass, Jackson, and Lafayette counties in Missouri. It was important to have diverse perspectives and lived experiences as we explored and learned together about community power. Their voices are represented in this book, in more of an informal and relaxed conversational style. The excerpts were part of broader dialogue between multiple people in the sessions. The excerpts and quotes are parts of larger conversations and dialogues that were only lightly edited for clarity to ensure the voice of the participants is not lost. Most original quotes are used to sustain and maintain the presence and power of the speaker.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU HEAR THE TERM “COMMUNITY POWER”? Community power is the ability of communities most impacted to develop, sustain, and grow an organized base of people who act together to set agendas, influence, and make decisions, and support relationships of accountability with and as decision makers that support positive change (National Academy of Medicine). El poder en la communidad es la habilidad de las comunidades que son mas impactadas en el momento de crecimiento y de organización cuando un grupo de pesonas se juntan y a hacer sus agendas para influenciar y hacer decisiones que van ayudar y van a crear relaciones de contabilidad y que junto con estas decisiones van a crear un cambio positivo.

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POWER To truly understand Power We need to engage and lift the stories of people whose lived experience gives them valuable insight into how we can improve health equity and justice in our community.

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Health Forward Foundation partnered with Ad Astra Community Innovations Group to examine how communities have experienced power or the lack of power in decisions that affect their lives. The Community Advisory Team (C.A.T.) guided the design, process, and analysis of the stories and information collected. Each member of the Community Advisory Team offered diverse perspectives as people and members of communities who have both direct experience with — and a commitment to addressing — health injustices. Their contributions, knowledge and experiences shaped and advanced our collective understanding of power in communities and informed the Stories in Power effort.

A FEW OF OUR C.A.T. MEMBERS WITH JOMELLA WATSON-THOMPSON

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“Stories in Power was more organic and so the people grasped towards it. And I think the people presenting the information were people that they knew. And so, they felt comfortable, like, ‘ That’s Rashid, that’s Ms. Jessie.’ So, they feel comfortable in that format to say, I want to be involved and I want to have input because I know if you’re involved in it must be about something.” RASHID JUNAID C. A.T. MEMBER, FACILITATOR

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“Trust in the community is really important if you’re going to go into these neighborhoods — urban core neighborhoods. I think they believe that so many people have — politicians have — received funding, have come, and promised them a lot of things and they did not get them. So, it’s very important, trust, and very few people can go into the neighborhood and have that trust with them. It’s very important ... before you can even work with them.” JESSIE JEFFERSON C. A.T. MEMBER, FACILITATOR

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Rashid Junaid & Jessie Jefferson

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ELLA EL SOL BY AALIYAH TIMMONS

SHE. THE. SUN. Power to me involves a community, to see the growth and improvements in their area. The sun provides the world with energy. The sun grows our food, provides our bodies with energy. This is a black face because this reflects my community and representation validates the power of my culture.

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Health Forward Foundation and Ad Astra Community Innovations Group, guided by our Community Advisory Team, (C.A.T.), supported several activities to explore power with community participants: • Community survey: collect information about perceptions of power and lived experience. • Paint and S.I.P. (Stories in Power) events: explore power through artmaking and conversation. • Listening Circles: support guided conversation with our communities. • Community Screening and Review Sessions: community review and feedback provided by community participants to guide the development of the book.

9 7 15 200+ 591 months

communities

sessions

session participants

survey participants

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“This is power. People need to hear you. They need to hear that. You know, the enemy wants to silence us. But we have mouths. Our mouth is our power. Our words that we speak is our power.” KANSAS CITY, MO. LISTENING CIRCLE

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Paint and S.I.P. E V E N TS

Paint and S.I.P. (Stories in Power) events integrated qualitative data gathering with the creative arts to explore and understand community power. Image based inquiry merges creative exploration with cultural storytelling.

“...we asked them to come in for two and a half hours and they got a gift card. And bringing in their friends. I think those are all reinforcements. Letting them know that their knowledge is valuable, and also their connections and their networks. A lot of people don’t even feel like their voices are that valuable but hearing it, writing it down, putting it out there, and you’re also giving some actual monetary value to it. I think that’s the part that sometimes we’re missing. Especially with our working families. We are asking a lot of working families to come after hours and again, all of that counts, ...being able to provide it in a way that they can actually benefit from it, not only monetarily, but mental health connections, and then the activity.” Diosselyn Tot, Paint and S.I.P. Facilitator

5 86 events

individuals

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Listening Circles 9 Guided, respectful discussions with the community about power.

JACKSON COUNTY LISTENING CIRCLE

events

“We don’t know people’s stories. I’m struggling right now to make ends meet. Working three to four jobs and still got kids, but people are just like oh, you got it. No, I might look like I got a million dollars, but under all that I’m hurting too... And that’s what make people hurt themselves or kill themselves. When you go and ask for help people want to say, oh, you don’t live in this area, or you don’t live in this zip code. You got to go here and there. And you get tired of doing that.” “To add on there, like when you go into another zip code, I think that has a lot to do with community power. Because a real community of power will pick you up regardless of if you are from here or not.” WYANDOTTE COUNTY LISTENING CIRCLE

“As long as the community is under stress, there’s always going to be a bunch of confusion, arguments, and fights. We could put 50 dollars right in the middle of this table, everybody’s going to argue about how that 50 dollars should be spent for all of us to survive.” “None of that is taught in the schools. You are not taught how to vote in schools, you’re not taught how to register, you don’t get taught any of that.”

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The community survey asked for three words to describe power; the greater the frequency, the larger the word.

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economic

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“A lot of people in the beginning talked about feeling powerless. And then, at least in that meeting, by the end of it, people had really shifted their mindset and talked about what power they had. And I felt like they were leaving in a very different place. And watching that, and listening to that, as people support each other across the room and raise the power up, it was very powerful.” JANE MOSLEY HEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION, C.A.T. MEMBER

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“To be able to write a check, is not the power. The power to open the doors and make sure the right people are being heard — that’s power.” DONNA BUSHUR HEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION

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“I’m saying, people want to possess power. You know, want to control their own destiny. I think everybody wants that, as almost a human right, to be able to control your own destiny, to see where you’re going to end up at. And a lot of people feel powerless in the community, and they want to try to unshackle themselves from that. Some of that are psychological shackles, they don’t know that they can move, it’s like the elephant with the chain on his leg, because they’ve chained his leg since he was a small elephant. And then when it becomes a big elephant, it doesn’t know that it can break the chain, it has power to break the chain.” RASHID JUNAID C.A.T. MEMBER, FACILITATOR

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HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND POWER IN THE COMMUNITY? “Yo tengo un ejemplo. Cuando llegué aquî a cambiarme a esta casa, a los dos meses me balacearon dos veces el coche estando yo adentro de la casa. Fui y puse una denuncia y llevé la bala.

Hasta ahorita no sé por qué me balacearon, ni quien fue el que me balaceo. Mejor tuve que poner una barda. Entonces el poder que conlleva todo lo que viene de afuera, y que tu estas desde adentro y que vienes llegando do otro paîs en el que, para empezar. No todo mundo puede tener un arma. Entonces no hay armas, si las hay pues estån muy escondidas. Aquî todo mundo tiene ese poder y eso te puede llevar al poder de matar a otro persona, de quitarle la vida. Pues la palabra yo creo que esta bien intensa y tiene miles de significados.” ENGL ISH TRAN SLATION “I have an example. Two months after I got here and moved into my new home, my car was shot at twice while I was inside the house. I went and filed a complaint, took the bullet, and even now I don’t know why they shot at me, nor who shot at me. Actually, I had to put up a fence. The power that everyone carries...coming from another country you do not know to what degree it can affect you. Because you come from a country in which not everyone can have a weapon. There are no weapons and if there are, they are very hidden. Here, everyone has that power, and that power can lead you to kill another person, to take their life. Well, I think the word is very intense and holds thousands of meanings.” “It’s saying, when there’s something that happens in our community that we don’t like, it is the power of people coming together to say, how can we as a people, overthrow, organize come together to start initiatives, start programs so that our community is safe from whatever is impacting us.” Sara Hernandez, Wyandotte Paint and S.I.P.

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HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND POWER IN THE COMMUNITY? A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “My community means specifically that I feel like I belong to the recovery team. [It’s] the strongest sense of community, even beyond where I live. It is a lot more togetherness. Like staying together and working together. I don’t necessarily always see that in the city, the place where I live a lot. But in the recovery community that I belong to, we really work together for the same common goal.”

A L L E N CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “For me, it’s the understanding and organizing [of a] base of people. So, it’s certainly not one, it’s a group of people who were able to work together, act together.”

JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “You can tell community power by the poorest person in that community. How do we treat our homeless and those that are in need? I think that shows our power.”

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25%

Participant Perception of Power in their Community

lot of power

moderate power

38%

American Indian/Alaskan Native

Low power in community

63%

49%

Bi- or Multi-Racial

28% 23%

Black or African-American

37%

36%

26%

Hispanic or Latino

36%

37%

26%

Moderate power in community

51%

White

High power in community 0

I have a say about what goes on in my community Responses varied by ethnicity.

little to no power

35%

Most survey participants feel they have low to moderate power in their community.

Perception of Power by Race/Ethnicity

40%

38%

34% 16% 40

53%

American Indian/ Bi- or Black or AfricanAlaskan Native Multi-Racial American

100

64%

48%

Hispanic or Latino

White

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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WHEN YOU THINK OF THE WORD POWER, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU? “Pues primero que nada nosotras analizábamos lo que era la palabra Poder, ósea, el significado que le podemos dar a esa palabra. Porque es una simple palabra que implica mucho. Una palabra que inplica el poder. Permitir el poder de que hacer, el poder desde arriba hacia abajo. El poder de limitar y el poder de ser clasista. El poder de ser. Eso es algo que nos llamo la atención y con eso vemos el poder. Por ejemplo, ahorita que hablaban las demás de la policía. Lo que te permiten, o lo que no es permitido, el poder de tener un arma y que con lleva tener un arma, El poder de hacerlo cualquiera. Por que no hay un limite de poder en ese aspecto. Entonces la palabra en si es bien profunda.” EN G LISH TRAN SLATIO N “First of all, we analyzed what the word power means. The significance that we can grant that word because it’s a simple word that holds a lot of meaning. The power of what’s allowed to be done, the power from the top down, the power to limit, and the power to be classist. The power to be. That is something that caught our attention. With that in mind, we looked at what others were discussing about the meaning of power with the police. What they are allowed [to do, and] what is not allowed; the power of carrying a weapon and what it means to carry a weapon; [and] the power that anyone can do so. Because there is no limit to power in that aspect, and therefore, the word itself has so much depth.” Navaly Rojas, Wyandotte County Paint and S.I.P.

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HOW DOES A COMMUNITY WITH POWER LOOK, FEEL, SOUND AND ACT?

W YA NDOTTE C OU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “When I think of power; if you feel safe somewhere, you’re going to feel you’re in control of that situation. You have control of the space around you because you feel safe. You know, like, you’re not surprised by things.”

JOHNS ON COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “When I see here the interaction among different generations, to me that is powerful. And people not being afraid to come together.”

“Sometimes people think, “Well, I’m just one, what can I do?” And they don’t realize that one adds up to many. They can make a change.”

JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “A community that’s worth all this money, but at the end of the day, if we’re not taking care of and looking out for each other then we’re only as strong as our weakest person. [If] we’re not strong enough to be able to lift them up, then I don’t think that community has as much power as we may think.”

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I have a say about what goes on in my community

58%

People with $50,000 or more yearly income agree

55%

People with $30,000 to $49,999 yearly income agree

Income levels had little effect on a person’s perceived power.

49%

People with less than $30,000 yearly income agree

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

People with less than $30,000 yearly income

22%

high level of perceived power

31%

People who had an income of less than $30,000 reported a low to moderate level of perceived power in their community.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

81%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

55%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

33% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

I can influence things that happen in my community The more power individuals perceive they have, the more they feel they can influence what happens in their community.

low level of perceived power

moderate level of perceived power

I have a say about what goes on in my community People who perceive they have low levels of power in their communities are less likely to feel they have a say about what goes on in their communities.

47%

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

86%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

64%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

38% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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JUSTICIA

This art piece represents justice, especially environmental justice. Number 79 means self-management. We the people have the power to make change. The rainbow represents inclusivity for the LGBTQIA+, women, children, ingenious people, elders, low to moderate income, and for the people with disabilities. It takes a village to make change, but we have to be willing to take a stand by speaking up. That is what the podium reflects. The river is the Blue River which runs 42 miles through two counties, Jackson County and Johnson County. We should all have access to clean natural resources. We need to end racist practices which are perpetuated in systems of power!

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The power of community, the power of unity, the power of us coming together. And I also got to hear voices. People were talking. People that you wouldn’t normally hear. I never heard a conversation like that in a group before. And I just thought it was very enlightening. It was real. It was honest. It was tearful. It was all of that, and people were able to just share their hearts. And I think again, that’s something we have to create.” CAROLYN WHITNEY C. A.T. MEMBER AND FACILITATOR

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“This is interesting to me that this has been called circles. So, I’ve learned my circle has to be bigger than me. And that means that we have to learn how to bring bigger than us into our circles. It is not our fault about money … That’s an equity issue. But we have to learn. I do this illustration with one pencil [and then] put together twelve. You can break one, but twelve you cannot … I want to know are my generations well. We do have every kind of trauma you want to name. But we wait on everybody else to fix us. Right? The power of us today. I’m telling you all. That’s been a prayer. It’s me trusting God. I don’t care what they [do on] Prospect. What are we doing on Prospect? Not worried about that they’re building a weak mindset. Are we bringing our pennies together? Are we getting their moves, making decisions on how we can buy property? See, that’s where the power is. And that’s what we’ve got to learn. And when we start educating ourselves and challenging ourselves and connecting. And connect with those that you’re not afraid of. Okay, we’ll pray for those that we’re afraid of. And we all connect right here. That’s where our strengths lie.” CAROLYN WHITNEY JACKSON COUNTY

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Jomella Watson-Thompson & Carolyn Whitney, C.A.T. Member & Facilitator

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“In our area a lot of kids are in poverty or at risk to violence.” Drugs, gangs, it is what it is. What it is, you know,

we lost the ability to live our childhood normally in a good, safe environment and the things that surrounded it flooded our community. So, like with Dr. Thompson, we’re in a program that we run, because we’re the youth advisors now, we run a program that helps kids out of violence and gang activity and things that potentially send them through the school to prison pipeline. So, we mentor them, we make sure that they stay out of trouble, provide them with the resources that they need to like, succeed in life, and provide them with a childhood that, you know, kids outside of our community usually have access to which they don’t, because of certain home circumstances. They think they join the gangs and stuff because they’re bad kids or because you know, they willingly want to go into that lifestyle, but most of the time you’re born into it, or it’s because you had neglectful parents or you know, it’s just the environment that you grew up in. So, through our programs …we’ve been able to provide these kids with alternative lifestyle.” KALIA LONDON WYANDOTTE COUNTY

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“Building power is a function of organizing people and organizing money around issues, around self-interest. And you know, I think as I look at these questions, this space exists because of a fundamental belief that I have around the Latino community, which is we’re often overlooked or often dismissed. Even as we grow in numbers, we are still not present in conversations and power inputs. And so, what is it that we need to do, what is important as a community, as an organized community, is to demonstrate that we do have power and that our voice matters, and that these conversations also have to reflect this portion of the community as well.

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And I think that is my struggle. You know, I think also, for me, there’s an intersection of white supremacy, culture, and power. And I think communities of color, particularly, we have this really fascinating relationship with power. Depending where you are, depending on your location, sometimes we have not had access to power. And so, when we do get power, we may not know how to utilize it when it’s meant to be utilized. And so, I think that there’s so many layers there around community power, what does it actually mean? Are people willing to be courageous in sharing that power across people? Or do we? We’ve been so alien to power that when we get it, we want to protect it as our own power. And how do we distribute it? And so, what struck me is I have more examples of when communities lost or haven’t had access to power, so I got to reflect on that.” EDGAR PALACIOS

KANSAS CITY, MO.

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Gary Bradley-Lopez & Lauren Negrete, Lafayette County, C.A.T. Member & Facilitator

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“We have homes that are just not in good shape. We have money that we can’t spend because ... it hasn’t been approved yet. So then when you have homeless people, it’s not very functional. No one has successfully been housed for two years. But they created a way, the goal was that if someone is homeless, they can be put onto this list and then get housing very quickly. But because of all the changes with the rent and you know, you have to follow HUD standards and there’s a whole bunch of stuff that goes into it. No one has been successfully housed on this particular list. I mean, like you can, it was supposed to be based on need. Other supplemental organizations got involved in doing this. Some people decide to hand pick people instead of following the list. Other people by the time that someone got to the top of the list, they might be in a whole different community because it’s just not reasonable. At my job, we’ve been able to house a few people, but typically what plays out is, a lot of places don’t fit into their requirements because they’re not realistic for the housing market right now. The only way that we can help people is essentially we’re helping people 60 and older who can go into subsidized senior housing, but then we can’t continue to pay their rent. We can only pay their deposits and stuff to get them in there. So, we’re not helping everyone and then there’s a new mandate that came out where the governor signed making homelessness illegal. Homelessness is illegal and you can be arrested, and then the fine is $750.” 41

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People with low perceived power think their needs are fulfilled by the community at a far lower rate than those who report greater power.

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

62%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

48% 0

100

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

60%

I think people in my community trust one another People with high levels of perceived power are twice as likely to think groups in their community trust one another.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

76%

I think my community helps fulfill my needs

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

49%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

30% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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HOW MUCH POWER DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “And that’s around the corner from my area. It’s like a third world country inside of the United States, inside of Kansas City. [There is a part] of Kansas City where they don’t hear gunshots. I stay on 80th and Troost right now right off Camel. If you go two more blocks over, they are happy, they’re whistling to work, and they don’t know. They love it. It’s not a problem for them in their area. They love the world right now. This is the best time to be alive. But if you come two blocks over to the Troost line, it is what we experience. What we all experience, we got to hear the police, breaking the law, going through lights, like, that was a cop!”

JOHNS ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “As a middle aged, middle class, white, cisgender male essentially, I was born with power and I’m becoming more and more aware of that as our organization, for example, is working through diversity, equity, inclusion; self-auditing and trying to figure out what is it that we need to do as an organization to help to give communities more power. So, I’m really sensitive to that fact that it’s, you know, I can use the power that I got through no effort on my own, to help empower others, but I have to be careful how that gets used.”

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HOW MUCH POWER DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “At some point, the city had a wonderful idea that they were going to tear up the streets and make all this improvement. And they had a pancake breakfast and asked us all our opinions and showed us beautiful pictures. At the end of the day, nothing that we were told [and] nothing that we were shown happened. In front of my house, my lovely yard was dug up, a big ditch was put there, and I realized; regardless of whether they were asking my opinion, I had no power. The city now owned that piece of land and whatever I wanted. I was powerless, and that was hard to take.”

JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “When she said tap into your resiliency, she inspired me to tell my story. So, as she talked, I felt it pulling at me and I did not want to be obedient, because I was so scared of people judging me. But she encouraged me to believe that I had it in me. It is people [who are] living with it right now and cannot tell their story. They are silenced by their hurt, by their brokenness, by the betrayal, they’re silenced by that, but what you did today was stepped out. And I’m going to own that.”

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“I shared some things I did early on in my life with my own church. We were able to go into the community, go to every apartment in this complex and find out what size shoes their children needed. Every home, but I will tell you what we did first, we took a loaf of bread with us. We had all this bread. But on top of the bread, it says,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that precedes the mouth of God. Every home we went to was out of bread. And when they read that scripture on top, they thought about it. Do you know a lot of those people came to church the following Sunday? They were so impressed that we actually sat down and talked with them. It wasn’t about church. We just found out where life was for them. How can we assist you? You know, what makes you happy? What makes you sad? How are your children doing? Because you’d be surprised at what your neighbor’s going through. She may have a Gucci bag, but her brain and her heart are in trouble, or her home may be in trouble. So, we can’t judge people by how they look. Let’s find out where they are.” CYNTHIA DAVIS JACKSON COUNTY

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Diosselyn Tot, Artist, C.A.T. Member, Facilitator

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“I just want to say thank you so much everybody for participating ... I love the cards that we made! Our community card is our community power card. So, I appreciate all the wisdom that you shared through that artwork and the words that you gave us today.” “We basically talked about our experiences and our gaining power through experiences and the generations that are up and coming. ... talking about how, back in the day, we saw Wyandotte County shift through the influence of the Latino community, the people that came and started fixing the houses, the storefronts, the streets, and the next generation that came after that, to continue to enhance it and continue to add onto it. And not only are we talking about unification, but also crime went down. Resources came in that otherwise we wouldn’t have. ...and nowadays, not only do we have these unifications, but we have this generation that’s taking the roles that experienced that lack of resource, and now making those programs and resources for our next generations to come. And again, for our communities to have those resources so it’s a lot about the gain of power and realizing that some other states still don’t have that access.” DIOSSELYN TOT WYANDOTTE COUNTY PAINT AND S.I.P.

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“Elmo Jones, young kid from Eastside. They have a special on HBO called the Riots on 27th Street. I was actually there that day, walking. Down the street. One of my favorite corner stores is J&B Market. They were up more on the Benton side. So, once I got to J&B, I could see the chaos so of course I merged up there. And I witnessed not too much chaos. They had their riot shields. They used tear gas. I witnessed a bunch of powerful Black men run the police out of the community for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Like I mean, they did Molotov cocktails, they broke them, there weren’t too many shots fired. They break them into Molotov cocktails, M80s, ... and the police completely backed up. And then I watched the police come back and take the neighborhood over with dogs and build a great big empire over there. But yeah, I literally ran off the block from tear gas, so it was an experience and I’ll probably never forget it. This is your home. This was my home. So, from Prospect to Cleveland, that was my home, and it happened right off Benton.”

ELMO JONES KANSAS CITY, MO.

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EL MOLCAJETE BY YAZMIN BRUNO VALDEZ

“It symbolizes grinding, like really working hard. But also, the combination you are making, satisfied when you’re feeding your family. Every day you use your molcajete and you make sure you mix the tomatoes and the jalapeños and onion, and you make something beautiful to share with the community. So, I feel like the hard work is what makes the community thrive, right? We all have to put in our part. And so that’s what my Molcajete represents.”

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“We both connected on the idea of growing up in neighborhoods that maybe weren’t the safest by where our homes and where we had our community. I shared a similar story. Growing up as an undocumented student, I didn’t have the resources that I needed. And even when I went and looked for them, there weren’t any to find. So, I had to find community very hard, and I had to go digging. But when I found it, I knew that I felt safe. And I felt that I had the right support to be able to go to college, which was my goal. ... And then I started sharing about how we have to fight for immigration, whether it was at the local level, or if we were asking for something at the national level. And I also shared that I had visited Kamala Harris, a week ago, to talk about immigration and how, whether it is at a local level, talking to the mayor or talking to the Vice President of the United States, we are fighting for our communities. Because that’s where our interest is, that’s where our home is.” YAZMIN BRUNO VALDEZ

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THE IMPACT OF COMMUNITY POWER AND ELECTIONS JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “I go back to 2008 when Barack Obama ran for president. I had never seen that many people standing in line to vote for nothing and nobody. But because he looked like us. We knew if we didn’t vote, well, he won’t get in. I’d come to the conclusion he wasn’t going to do much when he got there, but he would still go. I will get him there. When I voted on a Saturday, because I knew I had to work that Tuesday. When I finally voted. It was four o’clock in the afternoon on a Saturday. That’s how important [it was] and how many people [were there]. So, it all depends on the rallying. We can say what we want about Trump. He has 70 million people rally around him and [they] vote. We have to rethink everything. If it’s important to me, I’m going to pick up the Kansas City Call, I’m going to pick up the Kansas City Globe, I’m going to get on the internet, I’m going to find out who’s wonderful. And I have a bad habit of knowing who’s running, but then I don’t go back and check. Did they win? You know, I have no clue. So that’s my next step, is to pay attention to the aftermath. But I just remember 2008, it was just pivotal. But then in 2012, it wasn’t like when we got him there. [We thought] oh, he’ll be alright. So, we didn’t [get] involved as heavily in 2012. And we’re now in 2016.”

“...don’t know who heard his [Barack Obama’s] speech when he spoke on ‘Yes, We Can.’ But he said, ‘we know the battle ahead will be long. Always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way.’”

“Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. And I think in so many words, that’s what many of us have said.”

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DO YOU HAVE A SAY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN YOUR COMMUNITY? JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Having a criminal record can affect {voting}. So, I have six felonies on my record. I’ve been clean for the last six years, and [spent] four years in prison. When I originally got sentenced [it was] to 28 years, [and] I was 27 years old. [Now that I am back in the community,] I’ve not found an apartment… I can’t get approved because I have criminal histories from 2010. “ “People [in a community] with mental illness that don’t have a voice, they’re not going to go vote. You know, and then, life hits for people….For the majority of my younger years, stuff just wasn’t important to me. My day-to-day life was more important to me at that time. If you are more concerned about how you will pay your light bill, gas, then do you care about if the voting took place?... I’m not going to stop working overtime to be able to pay my gas bill, to go vote for somebody that I don’t know.”

LA F AYETTE CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “We need the young people, we need the middle-aged people, we need the older people, all working together and showing the proper respect for each other, in order to move forward as a community, including people who are poor, who are rich, [or] who are challenged in other ways.”

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DO YOU HAVE A SAY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN YOUR COMMUNITY? W YA NDOTTE C OU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “It’s tiny problems but it’s weirdly empowering when I can report the streetlights are out, and it actually gets like fixed, so that my neighborhood feels safer, I feel better walking around.”

JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Feel the connections. The community that I’m part of now, the neighborhood that I’m staying in, they’re very old school. We still bring goods from next door, and they knock on the door and see if you want your grass cut; we have a lot of old schools in my neighborhood. And I love that, because we have that where, you know, your child is in the street, and they will say, get out of the street, and it’s okay.”

W YA NDOTTE C OU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “You care about your community and know everyone around you and you’re not going to throw your trash on the ground because you actually love where you live. So, we’ll be more willing to converse and talk to each other and you know, get to know others.”

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WHAT RESOURCES WOULD HELP INCREASE POWER IN AND WITH YOUR COMMUNITY? JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “I mean, we have all the resources, it’s there. It’s just a matter of us using it wisely. Be a good steward with it and ask the Lord. If we do not have ways of understanding, we could ask God. You know, he asks us to ask him for it. You know if we lack wisdom, he says let him ask. Some of us could start businesses with all that we have. We could start businesses, be our own entrepreneurs. I mean, it’s, I think it’s, just a matter of us tapping in.”

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“Paint and S.I.P., that was powerful because, being able to tell your story by painting a picture. You have to paint the picture first. So, as they were showing their pictures and telling the meaning of their pictures; some had hope, some had a story of peace, and they were able to show what their emotions were at this time.” CAROLYN WHITNEY C. A.T. MEMBER AND FACILITATOR

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HOW CAN POWER BE SHARED AND DISTRIBUTED IN THE COMMUNITY? JACK S ON COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “I feel like one initiative that was really impactful in the community. I do not know if everyone remembers when Brush Creek flooded, and all of those people lost their homes and people lost their lives. It was just really important at that time that people voted to make the difference, to say what needed to happen in that area because that’s an area that has been important for our community and is still there. I think that people really saw how important and necessary it is for us, as a group and a community. As a whole, it doesn’t matter what color you are, doesn’t matter how much money you have. But when you see that people are losing their lives and their homes and you know, right in the heart of where you are. It’s necessary for everyone to come together to say this is not okay. Take the time to say, I’m going to stand up and do something, to make something happen, to get that change that needed to happen. And we did. We went out in groups and voted and said, Okay, we can’t have this here in our community, and my voice does count. And you know, a lot of people feel like I’m not going to go and vote. I have three children. And when my kids turned 18 years old, I made them register to vote, because I don’t care. Many people lost their lives so that we could have the right to vote.”

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HOW CAN POWER BE SHARED AND DISTRIBUTED IN THE COMMUNITY? JOHNS ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Well, in our Indigenous culture they’re always talking about preparing for the next seven generations, a decision that you plan to lay out. I didn’t realize that [pause] one of the things that always impressed me about the culture, the Indigenous culture is that it says that we always make decisions based on how it’s going to affect the next seven generations.”

A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “Mine’s a combination of things. So, the tree is because nature and also a big force right in the wind and the mountains can erode through water. Which just reminds me to breathe. And then 316. Coincidentally, that’s the day that I entered recovery. … For God so loved his only son. Anyway, that 316, a lot of stuff happens in my world that 316 means a lot and so it’s just representative of ... So right now, my arrows are just for the many directions of life that we can go.”

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“What we need to be doing more of is really listening to what people want, and then evaluate to see if it’s something that’s going to benefit a good population of people, to really make changes for them. Groups like Health Forward, [they’re] not afraid to disrupt the status quo, if it’s going to be helping people in the long run. And what I mean by that is, typically, nonprofit organizations will put the money toward where their donors want it to go. Which is understandable. However, that narrows the scope of helping people, and then the donor’s money is only going toward people that they deem are worthy of being helped.” JOHN CASTELLAW C. A.T. MEMBER AND FACILITATOR

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FORTALEZA

5 significo nuestra cultura 5 suerte en un volero Mariposa significa la fortalezo de ante los adversidades logran su encomienda Fortalezo Luz y la noche significa poder en nuestra vida Rosa las ganas de sobrevivir a un sueño morado la regeneración de uno mismo. Venois es nuestra sangre negros son los ojos de nuestras tradiciones

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Shannon Morris, Health Forward Foundation

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“

It’s looking at health more broadly. It’s looking now [at] what are the influencers of health. Sometimes that might not be health specifically, it could be certain policies that are impacting things. It could be other social determinants of health, housing, for example, we’re getting more into housing, we’re still focused on health, but we’re embracing and we’re really looking at tackling those root causes of some of the health issues that our communities face.

Health Forward Foundation, when we first started, we were the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City. Several years ago, we changed our name to Health Forward, and we are a foundation, and we award grants. We have certain counties that are in our service area. What we do is we support various organizations, health providers, in the counties we serve. Lafayette County is one, Cass County, Jackson County, on the Missouri side, Wyandotte County, Johnson County and then Allen County in Kansas.

And so, we are partnering with Ad Astra because this is in line with Health Forward’s strategic purpose plan. It’s composed of four separate purpose areas to help focus and clarify our work for our partners.

We’re shifting a little bit about what we’re doing; we’re really looking at how we can be supportive to the communities beyond funding. But even within funding, we really are trying to share that power.

One is Power. One is People. One is Place. And the last is Platform .”

And we’re trying to engage our communities, learn from our communities, and that shapes how we go about our business. And so, this is not the only county where we’re doing these listening circles. We’re doing them all over and it’s important- it’s important that we connect with actual residents of the communities that we’re serving, right? This is an opportunity for us to really amplify the voices of the folks that we serve.

Shannon Morris Health Forward Foundation

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I think groups in my community work together People with high levels of perceived power are more likely to think groups in their community have a history of working together to address problems.

I have relationships with people and organizations who influence things that happen in my community While only about half of people who perceived having low levels of power in their community believed they have relationships with people and organizations of influence, more than three-quarters of people with moderate or high power believed they have such relationships.

My community helps me fulfill my needs.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

73%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

68%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

46% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

86%

76%

52%

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

88%

43%

53%

American Indian/ Bi- or Black or AfricanAlaskan Native Multi-Racial American

Responses varied by ethnicity.

60%

65%

Hispanic or Latino

White

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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CAN YOU INFLUENCE THINGS IN YOUR COMMUNITY? W YA NDOTTE COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “Bryan Franklin was talking about some of the work with KC Tenants. That they work through the group he’s with, KC Tenants, to be able to get attorneys for anyone who needs to go for representation for housing eviction. So that was an example of gaining access to power.”

“I was able to join in a group, much like this when I was a teenager, and it allowed me access to power and empowering myself growing up in a lower income neighborhood and, you know, there’s a lot of safety issues. It provided safety for me to be able to go to the art programs after school. It was just, I never felt like I could do something like that, to make $300 from a piece of a painting that I did. It just blew my mind. So, it empowered me in a great way to be able to have access to that, and to have the freedom to express myself.”

A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “When we got the okay for further funding for the recovery house that gave other people hope and that gave us the power to form an entire union and have a lot more meetings and a more secure location. So that’s a very good one.”

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CAN YOU GIVE EXAMPLES OF WHEN YOU GAINED COMMUNITY POWER? K A NS A S CITY , MO . LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “I think a good recent example of community power here locally is the abortion legislation that didn’t pass in Kansas. So, when you think about the Supreme Court decision, and you think about Kansas, putting it on the ballot, whether they were going to have a constitutional amendment for abortion, over 50% of the registered voters in the state of Kansas voted in that election, which you just typically don’t see in local elections. So, I think that’s a good example here locally, of when the community realized that their voice mattered and had the power to affect change and came out to vote, specifically related to an issue that caused quite a bit of conversation.” A L L E N COUN TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “A group of people in Iola who were frustrated at the City Council and were worried about the school board. And we had a couple of masked in person meetings to talk about who we could maybe get to run. And we went through the list of people by precinct, and they started making calls, and I got a few people to run and got a few people elected.” A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “Thrive Allen County community conversations and community members got together to identify what needs to be addressed. One of their remarkable achievements is that we had no transportation and now Allen County provides transportation. It was identified as a problem and then having the power and the funds to address that problem.” “We got together, we talked it over, we started to form a co-op … when they closed the grocery store.” “[The prior election] definitely made us realize how important elections are. Because unless you’ve got people with hearts in power, it doesn’t matter. It’s like the Kansas Medicaid situation. Most of the state of Kansas wants that to happen. [...] to the people in power, who aren’t willing to listen to their electorate, it doesn’t make any difference.”

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CAN YOU GIVE EXAMPLES OF WHEN YOU GAINED COMMUNITY POWER? JOHNS ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “When the pandemic hit, I don’t know who in our church started it, but we have a food pantry. It’s up to people to come here and help themselves. I think that’s very powerful for churches. And that started during the pandemic.” “And what I would say is, is for us, who in the midst of craziness early on in we were feeling powerless, that opportunity to bring some food here gave us a little bit of [a feeling of] hey, I’m doing something… So, that kind of give us a little bit of power and also the recipient because they may think they may feel down and discouraged and hopeless, but they can come and take some action that will help them through their situation.” “I think definitely my childhood idea of power was who is the president, who is who are world leaders. But as an adult, I realized that sometimes people who are in power don’t use it... And the little people, those of us who just live our everyday lives, you know, power is flowing. I feel like you can learn how to have power in your own life and in your own community... And we can have power even if we band together with somebody.” “Martin Luther King, the renaming of the street was another that people had to fight for and come together on.”

JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “I believe the incident happened with George Floyd, although that was a bad situation, I think some good started coming up out of that when we had some power.”

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People in my community trust one another.

63%

23%

American Indian/ Bi- or Black or AfricanAlaskan Native Multi-Racial American

Responses varied by ethnicity.

Groups in my community have a history of working together to solve problems

41%

57%

47%

Hispanic or Latino

White

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

88%

40%

59%

American Indian/ Bi- or Black or AfricanAlaskan Native Multi-Racial American

64%

61%

Hispanic or Latino

White

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped. There is a generally positive feeling of groups working together to solve problems.

I feel like a member of my community The vast majority of people with a moderate or higher level of power feel like a member of their community.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

86%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

83%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

54% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “And her two focuses are housing and utilities… she definitely could use some mentoring as far as any hints, any tricks of the trade that you could use in working with a city council that’s not very receptive to poverty focused policy.”

W YA NDOTTE COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “We kind of had a similar story about, like the police as well. Where you just feel powerless just because of your ethnicity or culture. They have these assumptions in their heads thinking about you. For example, well she had a crash outside-right here-and then when the police came and talked to her, instead of asking, common sense asking, like, hey, are you okay, do you need any help? They automatically started asking: Where are your papers? Where’s your registration? All this and that without even thinking about her conscious state of mind, so that was an experience of where you feel the loss of power. And you know, being in a different culture, that’s understandable where you feel scared to even reach out to those that you think might help in the community.” “...loss of power comes from different people coming into the states and not being represented. as well as having that separation and polarization because of the language, color of the skin etc. So, it’s hard to come together and create that advocacy. On the opposite side of that when you do create that advocacy and are able to find something where you will align your values and your commitment to doing and making a change is where you can find power and engaging others.”

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? A L L E N COU N TY PAIN T AN D S.I.P. “One example from Humanity House is that we feel that the city’s utility policy is very punitive to people in need. And they approached the city council and attempted to change that utility policy without any success. It is extremely frustrating. I had to keep pointing out to the people that were involved to think about the efforts to expand Medicaid in Kansas. Something that’s very needed is about the change in utility policy is that when the people in power won’t listen to those people in need, when you have a disconnect between the people who are in power it’s extremely frustrating.” “Like the utility thing ... A lot of times, they won’t even accept partial payment. And, you know, you at least with partial payment, you get to keep some of your dignity and, and you feel like you, have some...a little control over what’s going on. But then when they just flat out tell you no, yeah, that takes away everything. It takes away your dignity, you’re feeling good about yourself or wanting to do what’s right. You know, so it leaves you really ... frustrated … It would be wiser to accept some money than just not at all. Because I mean, they act like it’s all a profit, you know, if they’re not going to turn a profit that day, they don’t want to have anything to do with it. But, when you give them the option of paying part of it, you know, I mean, at least that’s getting them closer to their goal than they are if you tell them nothing at all ... Well, then, I mean, it’s like it takes a lot of stress off you because when it comes time for the next bill, you don’t owe them as much as you would, if they would have accepted. So, you get yourself into a deeper hole, simply because they’re not willing to accept what you can get.”

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Always talk about the homeless people, but people overlook them.”

LA F AYETTE COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Wentworth Military Academy. It was established in 1881. Okay, so it was a foundational pillar for the community. It grew when Lexington was the place in western Missouri. It’s actually what brought me to town. I was hired to be an instructor there in 2017, which happened to be the year that they announced quite suddenly that they were closing and there had been no indication that they were struggling as badly as they were.”

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? JOHNS ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “And I think that here again, the intent is to gain power or some zero sum, which means this side was losing. ...We’re going to see more examples of this in the near future as a result of the political gerrymandering that has taken place. I was reading about an example in the South where they gerrymandered the district, which cuts right down the center of a campus. I think we’re going to see more and more gerrymandering. It’s unbelievable to put part of Wyandotte County in the same district that goes all the way to the Colorado River.”

W YA NDOTTE CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “I don’t know how we got to the era that we are in now. When I came along, the people across the street, next door, wherever, it didn’t matter, or the next block, it didn’t matter. They may not be your blood family. But you go to their house, you are family. They come to your house, they’re family. Everybody got together, they shared. If something happened to a family in that particular community, everybody else in the community rallied around and went to those people’s houses. What can we do for you? Do you need somebody to help you clean up, you need a meal, you need us to come in and cook? You know, everybody stuck together. And I think that right there is what we have gotten away from because of the times that we live in, scary times now and people are afraid to trust. So, we don’t have that family environment.”

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LA VIDA / THE LIFE BY JULLIANA AVARADO, WYANDOTTE COUNTY PAINT AND S.I.P.

I titled this “the life” because I’m talking about my life and experiences and the struggles, challenges, [and] experiences I have been through. This is a painting of mountains that represent the challenges of ups & downs a person may face. This also represents the homeland of both of my parents & the obstacles of coming to America. Ninety-five represents the year I was born, aka where my journey began!

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Perceived power by participants who identify as LGBTQIA+ It is important for us to understand the experiences of people who are often excluded including those who identify as LGBTQIA+.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

24%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

31%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

45% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

Participants who identify as LGBTQIA+: I have a say about what goes on in my community

52%

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

Participants who identify as LGBTQIA+: I think people in my community trust one another

42 survey responses from Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Kansas City, MO, Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri.

33%

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? JACK S ON COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “The one thing about [the] coronavirus, it was hitting everybody. It was hitting everybody, regardless of your money, your time, your town, whatever. We in America, the world shut down from it, shut down. So, we all went to an equal playing for maybe 30 days. And then it changed with the haves and have nots, the haves went on backup and did not look at the have nots.”

W YA NDOTTE COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “As African Americans, they don’t take our cases seriously. Say that something happens with one of us, they may take longer to handle it versus, you know, with white people. It’s a little bit different. So, that’s something that I’ve seen, they just don’t care as much, so we don’t always want to report it or say something, because we just think it’s not going to get handled. So, there’s just no point kind of, I think that’s an issue for sure.”

“People do take advantage of power, you know, some police officers taking advantage of their power. And say they do call the police. Some people were scared of the police like, really [ because of] terrifying situations that happen to them.”

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CAN YOU SHARE A STORY OR AN INSTANCE WHEN YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY LOST OR DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO POWER? JACK S ON C O U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “Yes, I have a past — I have a record. But just because I have a record, doesn’t mean that my voice should go unheard. I feel like a lot of people who are like me or whether — whether it be a criminal, whether it be a homeless person, they go unnoticed.”

LA F AYETTE CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “The Latino community is here, because it exists, but it’s very under the surface … Lexington is an agricultural community with orchards that rely on migrant labor. And so, we have several groups that provide aid to Latino populations that come through here.”

W YA NDOTTE CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “She feels that in her community, she’s lost a little bit of power. And the way that she defines her community is by their zip code. And so, their little environment around where she says that she has found that you no longer feel safe having kids playing outside. Because people are driving recklessly there’s a lot of different aspects within that community that have created a place where she doesn’t even feel like she can reach out. And then also little by little she knows that whenever she needs assistance or something, there’s less and less enforcement.”

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WHAT ARE BARRIERS OR CHALLENGES THAT LIMITS POWER IN AND BY YOUR COMMUNITY? LA F AYETTE COU N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “It’s just hard in a way; there’s a lot of people who’ve lived here forever, and they’re kind of separate from the people who have moved in. And it’s hard to get it to be more including of all of the people in the community because there tends to be a separation.”

“There are a lot of family names here. I know we had a really nice family that moved in, and the man became involved in the politics here. And he made a mistake, and the people here treated him awfully, and they left. He was so good for the community that actually hurt the community to lose him.”

“And I find that people that are here wanting to do what they did forever, and they don’t want to make the changes they need to make in order to make the community thrive. There are several different social circles in this community, with very unequal levels of power authority in the community and the divisions between them are pretty heavily enforced. So, several of us have a connection here to this church. This church is also a microcosm of the community itself. So, we have a here at the church we have a community and sometimes those play across family boundaries as well in the sense where you have some legacy families who have outsize, outsize authority or influence over the community. So, it creates a system in my experience, where if you’re in good for you, but if you’re not, there’s little chance of getting in, and if you’re outside and there’s little chance of influencing what’s inside and so, power tends to be pretty heavily concentrated here. This reinforces feelings of powerlessness for people who are coming into the community, well, actually, all of us and for people who are economically struggling, which is a substantial proportion of the of this community as well.”

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WHAT ARE BARRIERS OR CHALLENGES THAT LIMITS POWER IN AND BY YOUR COMMUNITY? LA F AYETTE CO U N TY LISTEN IN G CIRCLE “We have all I think been introduced to the expression in the town of three in the grave was three in the ground, or six in the ground before you’re part of it. Okay, yeah. That’s the criteria for being inside the elite crowd. Wow. You have to have several ancestors who were residents of Lexington. What is it? Three underground.”

“I’m an import. I wasn’t raised here. I wasn’t born here. I came from the city. A lot different. Come down here. And it’s been really hard to fit into the culture down here. And to understand where they’re all coming from. (...) that’s a great point, the social club. That carries a lot of weight in our community. Either you’re this, or you’re that or whatever. You’re either in or you’re not.”

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“Several years ago, my son and I visited Muir Woods, one of the few remaining old growth stands of coastal Redwoods in Northern California. It’s located just north of San Francisco. It remains protected through the action of many following the indiscriminate logging of the late 19th and 20th centuries. As we walked in peace, through the beautiful forest along the boardwalk trail, we paused at the side of a huge, blackened stump in the middle of a circle of healthy vibrant trees and read the interpretive sign in front of this stump: Hundreds of years ago, a single large Redwood grew here, then disaster struck. The tree of the large Redwood was killed perhaps by repeated and severe wildfires. From here you can see the original tree trunk still standing up right now, a dead and blackened snag. Despite such terrible damage, the tree did not die. Below the ground, its massive root system was full of vitality, and before long, hundreds of young bright green burl sprouts began to come up around the circle formed by the root crown of the original tree. Some of those sprouts have grown into the full-sized trees that today stand in a circle around the original trunk. This family tree circle reminded me that this gathering is the result of 1000s of ancestors and friends who are now gone from our sight but have left us with the stories of how they met disappointment, disaster, devastation, and diaspora with interdependence, strength and resilience. They also left us with an appreciation of the ability to learn from the stories of events and people of long ago. Like the Redwood Family Circle, we share those stories as we listen, to learn from and appreciate one another.” JANITH ENGLISH WYANDOTTE, C.A.T. MEMBER, FACILITATOR

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“I chose the wave for the strength and power of the community, and the flowers are the fruit of that wave. And then I chose an infinity symbol because the idea will be for that power to be infinite. Continue on.” CHARLIE

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Perceived power by participants who identify as having a disability It is important for us to understand the experiences of people who are often excluded including those who identify as having a disability.

People with a high level of perceived power agree.

17%

People with a moderate level of perceived power agree.

32%

People with a low level of perceived power agree.

50% 0

100

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

Participants who identify as having a disability: I have a say about what goes on in my community

48%

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

Participants who identify as having a disability: I think people in my community trust one another

47%

Agree and Strongly Agree responses were grouped.

108 survey responses from Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Kansas City, MO, Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri.

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LA COMUNIDAD BY CITLALI GALVES

“In my painting, I drew the earth as well as people holding hands. This is to represent our community coming together. Anything can be accomplished if we work together.”

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COMMUNITY ADVISORY TEAM The C.A.T. members collaborated with us for one year to guide all aspects of the Stories in Power initiative. They shared their insight, reach and power as community members and collaborators in this work. Gary Enrique Bradley-Lopez

John Castellaw

Vicki Collie-Aker

Jan English

Bryan Franklin

Estuardo Garcia

Meg Jamieson

Jessie Jefferson

Rashid Junaid

Jane Mosley

Lauren Negrete

Kristen Pender

Jomella Watson-Thompson

Diosselyn Tot

S TO R I E S i n P OW E R DEMOGRAPHIC DATA REFERENCE This self-reported demographic data from 591 survey participants provides insight into the characteristics of the community members who participated. In any category where there are fewer than five responses the information was not included, to allow for accurate interpretation.

Distribution of participants by county Allen, KS

Cass, MO

Jackson, MO

55%

Johnson, KS

Lafaytette, MO

Wyandotte, KS

17%

Other

Prefer not to say

5% 0%

10%

20%

3 0%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Distribution of participants by racial or ethnic identity American Indian

Asian

Bi-or Multi-Racial

Black or African American

41% 17%

Hispanic or Latino Native Hawai ian or Pacific Islander

Prefer not to say

White

27% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Distribution of participants by age 18-24

11%

25-34

17%

35-44

15%

45-54

17%

55-64

17%

65+

14%

Prefer not to answer

8% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90% 100%

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Distribution of particpants by gender identity Woman

67%

Man

25%

Non-Binary

Prefer not to say

None of these describe me

1% 0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 7 0% 80% 90% 100%

Distribution of participants by highest level of completed education Less than high school

High school diploma or GED

28%

Some college, no degree

25%

Associate's degree

10%

Bachelor's degree

11%

Graduate or professional degree

14%

Prefer not to answer

5% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Distribution of participants by income level <$30,000

$30,000-49,999

$50,000 & >

Prefer not to answer 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

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Funding for this project was provided by

All data based on 560-591 survey responses from Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Kansas City, MO, Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri.