Although Ewing Marion Kauffman passed away more than 23 years ago, there’s no question his legacy throughout his home city continues to grow to monumental proportions. Fortunately for Kansas City, that legacy means helping others graduate.
It’s likely every breathing soul in Kansas City already knows Kauffman Stadium, Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts or possibly The Kauffman Foundation, but many likely will never understand the reach Mr. K has to this day on local education.
"Since the foundation started, we've given away more than $1.2 billion in grants. That's to about 4,000 organizations in just Kansas and Missouri,” said Larry Jacob, vice president of affairs and communications at The Kauffman Foundation.
The nonprofit which bears his name is celebrating Mr. K’s centennial with a giant celebration at Kauffman Center Wednesday night. The entrepreneur would have been 100 years old on Sept. 21.
As a new scholarship program is expected to be announced, more than 600 Kauffman Scholars will be at the event. It’s the program that made it possible for someone like Ashley Anderson to go to college.
"Being a Kauffman Scholar has changed the whole fabric of my life,” said Anderson. "If I wouldn't have been a Kauffman Scholar I don't know how I would have got to college."
The Kauffman Scholars program is just one facet of the Kauffman Foundation. Yet, that one department has given $130 million in grants to local students since its inception in 2003. The program has helped nearly 1,000 Kansas City students graduate from high school and college, including Anderson who graduated from Fort Hayes State last year. Now she works for the Kauffman Foundation advising 52 Kauffman Scholar students of her own.
"It not only opens doors for you but it opens doors for anybody that you're connected to. So it's just really a privilege to be a part of the legacy and the call to be uncommon,” said Anderson.
And the impact on education starts before many students enter school.
"We are very abundantly blessed as a result of the legacy he's left behind,” said Deidre Anderson, executive director of United Inner City Services.
United Inner City Services is the parent company of St. Mark Child and Family Development Center. It’s an early childhood center that teaches 125 students from six weeks up to Kindergarten.
"Many of the ways that we are supported by Kauffman Foundation and other philanthropy throughout the city is being able to provide job training and support to families that are needing to work on some of their life goals and also supporting them to be the best parents they can be,” said Deidre Anderson. "United Inner City Services has been fortunate to receive funding that enabled us to build this beautiful facility. You're in one of the poorest zip codes in the county, and you are in one of the finest early childhood facilities in the city. And that is a testament to the kind of giving Mr. K provided."
The Kauffman Foundation’s mission is to “help individuals attain economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success.”
"I think he'd be pleased with the energy that he sparked. For him it wasn't about the money and it wasn't about him. It was about getting other people involved. One of his quotes is, 'All the money in the world can't solve problems, but working together, there is no problem we can't solve,'” said Jacob.
A few other programs and initiatives by the Kauffman Foundation include:
- The Ewing Marion Kauffman School (public charter) opened in 2011 in Kansas City and will serve 1,100 students in grades 5-12 by 2018.
- Teach For America: Since 2008, it's placed more than 510 talented teachers in district and charter schools in Kansas City, reaching 10,600 students in 2013.
You can learn more about the Kauffman Foundation here. Read more about Mr. K and his 100th birthday here.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
