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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

 

André Cataldo of Dear Genre considers his latest album, “Man in Full,” his most “tame and mature” sound. He delves into his musical journey and share tracks from his sixth album.

Missouri Independent reporter Rebecca Rivas provides the latest on sweeping legislation that recently gained preliminary approval in the Missouri Senate. It would crack down on protesters — and give new rights to cops accused of misconduct.

Andrew J. Theising discusses the new book he edited for the Florissant Valley Historical Society, which provides a close look at slavery in the north county St. Louis suburb.

Singer Javier Mendoza who performs as Hobo Cane has been writing and performing Latin music for years. The artist has written songs for Enrique Iglesias, Juan David, Ricky Martin. He has also poured his heart into rock music.

For many of us, mastering muting, unmuting and other basics of virtual work and schooling has proved to be more than enough of a challenge on top of everything else this past year. But St. Louisan Susanne Evens and her team of translators around the world have been busy in recent months tackling a different challenge: how to make large-scale international gatherings possible, and still understandable, in a virtual age.

The four contenders for mayor of St. Louis discussed crime prevention, the COVID-19 pandemic and transportation funding in one of the last virtual showdowns before the March 2 primary election.

St. Louis County Library director Kristen Sorth discusses the center's "GrandPad" initiative, where they aim to distribute about 1,500 tablets as part of their ongoing Digital Equity Initiative.

State Rep. Jo Doll of Webster Groves is the latest guest on Politically Speaking, where the freshman Democratic lawmaker talked with St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum about her first few weeks in office. Doll represents Missouri’s 83rd district, which takes in portions of Richmond Heights, Webster Groves, Brentwood, Maplewood and St. Louis. In addition to being a state lawmaker, Doll is also a member of the Webster Groves Board of Education.

Some of the 46,000 Missourians ordered to pay back unemployment benefits are appealing. State representatives are moving forward on legislation to forgive the federal portion of the money, but legal groups representing people filing appeals are looking for more help.

Advocates are celebrating a new law that will end wealth-based pre-trial detention in Illinois. With Governor J.B. Pritzker's signature yesterday, the state becomes the first in the country to eliminate cash bail.

A newly launched community of 50 tiny, transitional homes, located at Jefferson and Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis, is now nearly at capacity. We talk with Tom Mangogna of the Magdala Foundation, which is operating the village, and with tiny-home resident Florine McBride. She moved in just a couple weeks ago with her emotional control cat, Logan.