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May 2010 news
On May 23, 2010 Channel 5 news and Dana Wright did an investigative report on the plight of homeless teens in Wyandotte County, calling attention to the fact that there are 1,200 homeless children in the school system and only 40 emergency family beds in the county. County Commissioner Pat Huggins Pettey admitted that, while the county would like to help homeless teens, the problem is a low priority and presently there is no funding for additional beds. Simultaneously, the budget and staff of the Office of Homeless Liaison of KCKS United 500-School District is being significantly reduced.
The Office of Homeless Liaison has been instrumental in keeping many homeless teens in school and helping them move on the college. The report detailed Jameika Prater’s amazing story of living in her car, washing up in the school bathroom while attending Wyandotte High School. She persevered and is now a junior at Drake University. Without the support of the Office of Homeless Liaison she says she would not have succeeded.
In the coming year Chameleon will focus its programming and funding requests to foundations on working with the Office of Homeless Liaison Kansas City Kansas Public School District to support a residential homeless teen youth shelter at Connelly Hall on the campus of the Old Central Baptist Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas. The building used to be a college dorm. When renovation is complete, it will include 24 beds for homeless teens.
Chameleon is going to use its expertise and creative resources to develop the site as an arts and educational village of benefit for both the resident teens and the broader neighborhood. Chameleon plans on building dance, arts/printmaking and recording studios in the basement of Connelly Hall, a playground/sculpture park, performance stage and support the development of a community garden. Chameleon will use the outdoor performance area to stage mini-festivals and community arts actions to establish a strong, positive sense of place and identity for the teen home. Our partners include Hillcrest Transitional Housing and Westside Family Church. The center is scheduled to open in September of 2010.
Animals on Parade
Chameleon’s environmental animal parade of signs cut into the shape of fish, hippos, cows, dogs and other animals are brightly painted and stenciled with environmental problems have been exhibited at StoneLion’s environmental puppet festival Pirates of pollution, Wyandotte High School earth day as well as the Kansas City Earth walk. The parade continues to draw attention and will be exhibited at the Strawberry Hill gardens in June and the Fringe Festival in July. If you are interested in having the parade for your event contact Hugh Merrill at 816-686-8626.
Chameleon Summer Programming with the YWCA
Due to funding cuts Chameleon and the Office of Homeless Liaison will not be running our annual summer camp for homeless teens and children for the first time since the programs inception in 2005. The good news is that we will be working with the YWCA Green Girls Camp, Kansas City Kansas. Chameleon will provide journaling workshops for the girls and environmental arts workshops. We will be creating our own version of the Animal Parade signs and using them in street parades and in community gardens in KCKS. The Office of Homeless Liaison is encouraging our girls in the homeless program to sign up for the programming so we can continue to work with our kids all summer!
Fundreds Coming to an End
At its simplest: 3 million unique drawings of U.S. One Hundred Dollar Bills (Fundreds) by students and community across the nation, picked up by a cool armored truck and delivered to Washington D.C. to request real funding to make safe lead-contaminated soil that currently places children at risk for severe learning disabilities and behavioral problems. For more info, please check out fundred.org.
Chameleon is winding down the Fundreds project and ready to send off over 5000 unique drawings of One Hundred Dollar Bills to Washington DC. Mel Chin, the creative force behind the project, will place the bills in the Fundred armored car and attempt to exchange this wonderful creative capitol for an appropriation bill to clean up lead in New Orleans. We have reached thousands of people and educated them through the arts about the problem of cleaning up toxic lead in inner city communities. Great job to all that participated. Thanks!
Chameleon Intern Exhibition at Crossroads Missouri Bank
Chameleon Intern Emmett Merrill has an exhibition of photos of homeless men and children at the Crossroads Missouri Bank on Southwest Blvd in downtown Kansas City. We hope you can stop by and see these amazing and thought-provoking photographs.