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Teachers want to skip standardized state examinations for the second year and focus on getting students caught up and back in the classroom. Some administrators worry about how testing would work for those learning remotely. The state education department in Missouri insists exams are necessary to pinpoint learning loss.

St. Louis attorneys Elad Gross and Mark Pedroli got a surprise in a set of documents they recently unearthed via Sunshine requests: proof that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office exchanged emails with the Rule of Law Defense Fund leading up to the November 2020 election — and continued to receive numerous communications from the fund afterward.

In 2018, Bayer-Monsanto lost a $289 million jury verdict in a case brought by a groundskeeper who claimed the weedkiller Roundup gave him cancer. Author Carey Gillam discusses her new book about that litigation.

Story Stitchers’ latest project examines everyday life in five St. Louis-area neighborhoods and municipalities: the Ville, West Side, University City & Delmar Loop, Walnut Park, and Ferguson. The initiative includes an album celebrating life in St. Louis, and a podcast about the city’s music scene hosted by rapper Ntegrity.

How did Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer move onto the April mayoral election? For Jones, it was a strong performance in north St. Louis and parts of south St. Louis, and approval voting may have been key in getting Spencer to the second round.

Missouri school students will sit down for state assessments soon. For some, it’ll be their first time in a classroom in more than a year. Teachers and parents say testing should be canceled, but education officials counter that the data is critical.

StoryCorps is turning its ear to tell the stories of Black people from Alton. We previewed a virtual event happening this Friday, "Untold Black Stories of Alton" and got a sneak peek at one of the conversation.

St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum and Rachel Lippmann break down the results of the March primary for St. Louis mayor — and look to how the candidates stack up with each other in April.

Environmental activists say the concern over demolishing a shuttered East Alton coal plant is only the beginning. They say there are few state or federal rules and more coal plants will go offline as demand continues to drop.

As dancer and choreographer Dawn Karlovsky read about The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate in Peter Wohlleben's bestseller of that name, SHE felt that communication - and transformed her experience into dance.

                          

Her conversation with Earthworms host Jean Ponzi explores the nature of movement as a primary force mastered (even in stillness) by trees, from whom our species can take a useful leaf!

Karlovsky and Company's performance this spring of Interwoven celebrates the nourishing nurturing interconnected nature of what we now know as the "Wood-Wide Web" in a collaborative performance that includes original music by Tory Starbuck and Kalo Hoyle with stage design/visual art by Dr. Bill Russell.

Audiences can virtually experience Interwoven March 26 - April 11, and learn more about this and other collaborative works at www.karlovskydance.org 

THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms friend & engineer, and to KDHX production staff Andy Coco and Jon Valley.

Related Earthworms Conversations:
In the Company of Trees with Andrea Sarubbi Fareshteh (Jan 2019)

Joan Lipkin: Focusing Theater Power on Climate Change (Oct 2017)

 

 

Related: Joan Lipkin Climate Plays

NEED PIX from Dawn

Earlier this year, Brittany "Tru" Kellman’s efforts got a big boost: a $1 million grant to train hundreds of doulas in an effort to reduce Missouri's maternal mortality rates and racial disparities. Kellman and her Jamaa Birth Village team are partnering with local nonprofit Generate Health on the three-year project. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Kellman and Generate Health's Kendra Copanas, and we also hear from Charity Bean, a recently trained doula who has since opened her own practice.

This Friday marks 75 years since Winston Churchill delivered the famous "Iron Curtain" speech. Tim Riley of America's National Churchill Museum talks about the significance of that speech and shares details about Churchill's trip to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

The director of the film “America’s Last Little Italy: The Hill” was concerned the lack of in-person festivals during the pandemic would hurt distribution. But Joseph Puleo says online streaming helped attract a wide range of viewers in cities like Chicago and New York.

Aaron Fowler has found huge success in the contemporary art world. Now he debuts his first solo exhibition in his hometown, N2EXISTENCE: GENESIS, which opens March 6 at the Luminary. Fowler explains how he went from St. Louis' Carr Square neighborhood to the Ivy League, and what it's been like to be back in his hometown for a year's residency.

Co-authors John A. Wright Sr. and John A. Wright Jr. discuss the new, second edition of their book, newly out from Reedy Press, and why the stories of so many notable Black people have been forgotten or concealed.

A Black St. Louis-based chemical engineer has played a key role in battling COVID-19. Paul Mensah led the team that developed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. He says the shots are critical to ending the pandemic.

Paul Mensah, a Black chemical engineer and vice president of Bioprocess Research and Development group at Pfizer in St. Louis, led a team of scientists, engineers and technicians to develop Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The Legal Roundtable discusses developments involving the area's judicial system, including two 8th circuit rulings on qualified immunity for police officers and lawsuits over Missouri's Sunshine law.

The four candidates for St. Louis mayor agree that violent crime is the top issue facing the city. They are outlining their approaches to the complex issue ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

The past decade at KDHX can be characterized by tremendous transition, growth, and obstacles. I recently shared that we have undergone a strategic planning process to guide us through a journey of (un)learning and leading. At the center of the process was the question, “How must KDHX boldly adapt and grow in order to advance its important mission-- to build community through media?”

Based on engagement with staff, donors, funders, volunteers and other KDHX community members, we committed to three key priority areas. To enact change within these priority areas, the Board of Directors and staff have identified and agreed to action steps.  

You can read about the first and second of these priority areas here.

The third of those three priorities is to increase financial stewardship and management. Like any nonprofit organization, diversifying funding streams and ensuring that fundraising practices are sustainable is a key ongoing consideration. In particular, we are interested in more fully aligning our funding strategy to our organization values. This will mean shifting a community-centric model of fundraising to create greater sustainability and ability to grow. (Community-centric fundraising is a fundraising model that is grounded in equity and social justice, which prioritizes community over individual organizations, fosters a sense of belonging and interdependence, presents work as holistic, and encourages mutual support between nonprofits. You can learn more at communitycentricfundraising.com.)

Here is our plan for this priority area over the next three years:

Increase Financial Stewardship & Management

The goal: 

By 2024, KDHX will increase fundraising by 15% by diversifying fundraising streams and implementing sector best practices for stewardship and financial management. 

KDHX has experienced great financial support from its listeners over the past years. By adopting a Community-Centered approach to fundraising efforts, the organization can diversify and expand its existing donor base and increase financial income. Diversifying channels of financial support and seeing a culture of philanthropy will create a strong foundation of funding for building capacity and program growth. Developing processes and procedures around donor communication, stewardship, and financial management will allow for transparency, efficiency, and advancement of resource development.

Achievement of this goal will be attained using the following action steps:

 

1: Adopt Fund Development Standard Operating Process & Procedures

-Increase efficiency and ensure transparency in fundraising practices

-Adopt community-centric donor communications and develop timeline

-Draft/update policies as needed 

 

 2: Adapt resource development activities to reflect Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) practices

- Create a fund development plan to increase organizational fundraising by 15% over three years

-Set short-term and mid-term strategies for existing and new revenue streams

-Obtain board approval

 

3: Engage Fund Development Committee

-Align committee with CCF principles; rewrite committee description & expectations

-Obtain buy-in, roll-off and/or recruit

-Prepare for/communicate intensive engagement to build committee culture

 

4: Board Development and Training

-Strengthen board leadership and commitment; review and update Board Policies to align with strategic plan goals

-Obtain buy-in and/or roll-off

-Redefine board roles & responsibilities (Governance Committee)

-Adopt a Board Matrix & Standard for Representation

-Develop & Implement Board Orientation and ongoing training series

-Practice mission engagement and Board fellowship

 

To learn more about our strategic plan, click here.

Kelly Wells
Executive Director