I just added my photo essay to PhotoPhilanthropy's website click here. I'm honored to have my work and the work of True Light Family Resource Center be shown there. Please take time to browse and view also their impressive collection of works by photographers working with all types of non-profits.

Tom Sawyer Ballet Dress Rehearsal at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Tom Ryan's review of the world premiere Tom Sawyer Ballet rehearsal

Mary Moore's Back to the Table Workshop

http://janevision.tumblr.com/post/7457238285/mary-moore-founder-of-a-workshop-called-back-to

http://janevision.tumblr.com/post/7457265246/regina-sang-and-shared-her-story-with-the-people

Father's Day is just another day for Peggy and her family

I visited Peggy the other day at her home.  She spoke of Father’s Day.  She said it doesn’t mean much for these kids,  like many people she knows, there is no father around.  She said that her sons’ father was killed by gunshot before they could know him.  She has since been searching for a male role model for them.  Her youngest son had a role model who was his football coach at Derrick Thomas Academy up until he was killed in a motorcycle accident this year.  Derrick Thomas Academy was named  in memory of a football player who was a role model for many inner city children.   Derrick Thomas died from a car accident in 2000.

Peggy currently lives with many members of her extended family, including her sister and several neices with their children under one roof.  They all work together to provide and take care of the children.  The only adult male in the house is her brother. 

Peggy's youngest son, age 13, comes home from visiting friends.






Peggy's neice, who lives with her checks her phone by the door. 




The youngest in the household, Peggy's neice's daughter.  Extended family live together in one house and together take care of the children.





Friday's slideshow was a big success!

View the slideshow

Friday: Slide Show Benefit for Emancipation Station, A Women's Shelter

Please stop by anytime between 7-9:30 pm on First Friday, tomorrow to see the slideshow!

There is no fee to attend, but tax-deductible donations will be accepted with 100% of the proceeds given to Emancipation Station. (Pastor Alice Piggee-Wallack will be set up at a table underneath the photographic display to give interviews and receipts for donations.)


*special thanks to Tom Ryan, Evan Ashby of Mildred's Coffee House, Christina Boveri Realty, Suzi Aron Realty and Mary Pepitone 

Starting Salaries for Teachers in KCMO School District is Low

After reading an article on teacher's salaries from the New York Times today, I decided to look how KCMO schools faired.  What I found is that KCMSD has one of the lowest starting salaries of approximately 100 districts surrounding it.  The salary range meets the average as the pay scale increases with time.  But the lifetime average that a teacher earns is less because of the starting salary. Read More Research Here on KCMO Schools

With the research from the New York Times article, "McKinsey polled 900 top-tier American college students and found that 68 percent would consider teaching if salaries started at $65,000 and rose to a maximum of $150,000. "  it is evident that teachers salaries, especially Kansas City, Missouri Teacher's salaries are not attractive to top scholars as job choice.


"At the moment, the average teacher’s pay is on par with that of a toll taker or bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education. In real terms, teachers’ salaries have declined for 30 years. The average starting salary is $39,000; the average ending salary — after 25 years in the profession — is $67,000. This prices teachers out of home ownership in 32 metropolitan areas, and makes raising a family on one salary near impossible." NYT Article on Teacher's Salaries

My mother was a teacher when I was growing up.  She once told me that they were making the same salary as the people who take out the garbage.  Not much has changed.